ZOLEO Supports Marine Cleanup in Remote Areas
Overview
The Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF) is a Canadian non-profit organization that aims to eliminate plastic waste from land and aquatic environments. OLF employs 25 full-time staff and up to 300 seasonal contract workers who operate across British Columbia, Mexico and Panama, collecting, recycling and reselling marine plastic from ecologically sensitive areas and communities facing pollution crises. With crews working in extremely remote locations, communication and safety are paramount when planning operations.
Being able to automatically share our exact GPS coordinates using Location Share+ has been a game changer.
Jeremy Browne
Helicopter Operations Supervisor
Ready to Transform Your Operations?
Discover how ZOLEO can enhance safety and communication for your remote workforce.
Connect with an ExpertChallenge
Ocean Legacy Foundation teams operate in extremely remote locations accessible only by vessel or helicopter, where they collect plastic debris for transfer to processing sites. Reliable communication is essential for safety check-ins, coordinating pickups of staff and debris, and managing time-sensitive requests.
However, traditional communication tools like satellite phones, VHF radios, and walkie-talkies often proved inadequate, causing safety risks and operational inefficiencies.
Key Challenges:
- Teams operated in remote locations with no reliable radio or cellular signals
- Satellite devices were slow, unreliable or impractical to use
- Crews couldn’t obtain timely weather updates on-site
- Communication breakdowns frequently affected pickups and safety checks
Previously, teams relied on printed weather forecasts and experienced frequent missed check-ins, resulting in operational delays, confusion, and compromised safety.
Solution
OLF implemented ZOLEO to track locations via Location Share+, coordinate routes and access hyperlocal weather data. Teams quickly adopted the device, mastering it in less than an hour.
Key Benefits:
- GPS breadcrumb trails and automated check-ins
- Hyperlocal marine weather forecasts for planning
- One-tap messaging via familiar smartphone app
- Faster helicopter pickups and efficient field team coordination
Outcome
ZOLEO has become an essential tool for OLF, enabling crews to track each team's location and communicate essential information. Being able to view a team’s breadcrumb trail on a map gives crews better visibility of where they are and makes coordinating pickup much easier.
OLF plans to continue utilizing its ZOLEO devices with all future projects that require working off-grid to ensure the safety of its crews. "We now have the confidence that we can maintain a connection no matter where we go," Jeremy concludes.
We now have the confidence that we can maintain a connection no matter where we go.
Jeremy Browne
Transform Your Remote Operations
Join Ocean Legacy Foundation and thousands of organizations worldwide who trust ZOLEO for mission-critical communication.