When most anglers think about protecting the ocean from plastic, they probably picture picking up bottles on a beach or removing discarded fishing line from the water.
They probably don’t think about the box an outboard motor comes in.
But reducing plastic before it ever has the opportunity to become waste is one of the less obvious parts of Suzuki Marine’s Clean Ocean Project.
Learn more about the Suzuki Clean Ocean Project:
https://www.suzukimarine.com/clean-ocean-project/
WATCH: Suzuki’s Clean Ocean Project and Micro Plastic Collecting Device
Suzuki’s environmental initiative has three primary components: cleaning up waterways and shorelines, reducing plastic packaging and collecting marine microplastics.
The latter has received plenty of attention because Suzuki developed a Micro-Plastic Collecting Device that uses an outboard’s cooling-water system to collect tiny pieces of plastic while the boat is operating.
The packaging side of the program isn’t nearly as flashy, but the numbers are impressive.
According to Suzuki’s 2026 outboard catalog, the company had reduced 128 tons of plastic packaging as of June 2025. That included 92.1 tons associated with packaging for Suzuki outboards and another 35.9 tons from packaging for genuine marine parts.
And Suzuki has accomplished the reduction by examining some surprisingly small details.
Polypropylene tape used in packaging has been replaced with paper. Plastic fixing bands have also been switched to paper. Nylon used for upper engine cover sheets has been replaced with rayon.
Some polystyrene foam and polyethylene materials have been replaced with 100 percent biomass-derived polymers. Even the ink used on cartons has been addressed, with Suzuki reporting a move from animal-derived ink to botanical ink.
None of these changes will generate the attention of a new high-horsepower outboard or some piece of cutting-edge marine electronics.
But that’s part of the point.
Environmental stewardship isn’t always about one dramatic action. Sometimes it involves examining everyday materials used thousands of times throughout a worldwide manufacturing and distribution system and asking whether there is a better option.
Suzuki has been doing that while continuing its other Clean Ocean Project initiatives, including organized cleanup efforts around the globe and its Micro-Plastic Collecting Device.
Reducing packaging attacks the issue from another direction.
Instead of asking only how plastic can be removed after it becomes waste, it asks how much unnecessary plastic can be eliminated before the product ever reaches the customer.
That’s an important distinction for anglers and boaters.
We should certainly pick up discarded fishing line, plastic bottles and other garbage we encounter on the water. We should participate in shoreline cleanups and make sure nothing from our own boats ends up overboard.
But the bigger battle against plastic pollution begins long before trash reaches a beach, bay or ocean.
Sometimes it begins with something as simple as changing the tape on a box.
And when those small changes are multiplied across thousands of outboards and marine parts, they can add up to something much bigger.