The co-founder of the social enterprise spoke at the Blue Women Forum sharing her inspiring story of circular entrepreneurship
Amaia Rodríguez, co-founder and co-CEO of Gravity Wave, starred in one of the most outstanding presentations of the last day of the Blue Zone Forum held in Cádiz. During his speech at the Blue Women Forum this September 26, Rodríguez outlined the circular economy model that has allowed his startup to recover more than 200,000 kilos of plastic from the Mediterranean and
transform it into sustainable design products.
The entrepreneur shared with the audience the journey of a project that was born from observation and passion to change things, and that today has a network of more than 5,000 collaborating fishermen in the Mediterranean.
The story behind the impact Rodríguez recalled the trip to remote islands in Southeast Asia that marked the turning point: "there I found mountains of plastic garbage on uninhabited beaches. I wondered how it was possible that that plastic got there." This experience led her to consider, together with her brother Julen, how they could “be part of the solution.” The co-founder did not hide the
initial challenges: “we didn't have a single euro”; and the first attempt to create mobile phone cases “failed”, forcing them to reinvent their business model until they found the current formula.
Technology and design at the service of sustainability
One of the most innovative aspects presented was the use of Blockchain technology to ensure complete traceability of each kilogram of net recovered. “Nets account for 40% of the plastic we find in the sea,” explained Rodríguez, who detailed the process of transforming this material into urban furniture, office furniture and decorative elements.
"At Gravity we not only wanted to clean, because that meant transferring the problem from the sea to the land. That is why we set up a recycling process that gives a new life to this material," he highlighted during his speech.
Rodríguez's final message was clear and forceful: "There should be many more companies dedicated to collecting plastic. The problem is enormous and we need to join forces." His presentation was a powerful invitation for more agents to join the mission of achieving a sea without plastics, demonstrating that the circular economy is a key tool to generate positive impact.
Gravity Wave's participation in this third edition of the Blue Zone Forum reinforced the event's commitment to tangible and innovative solutions for ocean sustainability, highlighting the fundamental role of purpose-driven entrepreneurship in the future of the Blue Economy.
Gravity Wave is a social enterprise co-founded by Amaia Rodríguez and her brother Julen, dedicated to cleaning plastics from the seabed and transforming them into sustainably designed products using blockchain technology. It has a network of more than 5,000 collaborating fishermen in the Mediterranean.
The Blue Zone Forum-Navalia Meeting 2025 is part of the ZF Blue Core-Vivero of Companies 4.0 project, financed by 85% by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) within the Plurirregional Operational Program of Spain Feder 2021-2027, through the INCyDE Foundation.