Aussie zero-waste startup, Zero Co, has reportedly built the world’s largest plastic waste pyramid in Egypt using one million water bottles worth of rubbish collected from the Nile River.

A team led by Zero Co built the pyramid on 3 November, just three days before the beginning of the nearby COP27. The audacious stunt aimed to garner the world’s attention ahead of the global climate summit.

To scale the awareness of the campaign, Zero Co’s founder Mike Smith camped on the peak for three days. 

Launching the 100YR CLEANUP campaign

The spectacle launched 100YR CLEANUP. Starting with cleanup number one of the Nile, this is Zero Co’s century-long initiative to remove rubbish around the planet. Australia is on its agenda for 2023.

Smith used his moment at the pyramid’s summit to call on industry peers and companies around the world to unite against the single-use plastic problem. One concrete way they could do that? Support the 100YR CLEANUP by contributing a small part of their business funds towards the initiative.

“More and more brands are looking for ways to have a positive impact on the planet and to stand for something more than just profits,” says Smith. 

“The 100YR CLEANUP is the perfect opportunity for businesses large and small, from anywhere around the world, to join us and help build a scalable impact on the waste problem.” 

Zero Co has contributed $100,000 of its own earnings into the 100YR CLEANUP kitty, along with donations from founding partners The Hidden Sea and Skip Foundation.

So far, the total raised is $267,608, achieving one quarter of their annual goal to raise $1,000,000 and remove 15 million water bottles worth of rubbish from the planet. Zero Co has put this figure down to the “overwhelming success” of the first cleanup and pyramid stunt.

For an in-depth chat about Zero Co, Marketing sat down with Zero Co founder Mike Smith for our Not So Serious podcast series, available on all good podcast platforms.