Stories

One Ocean is KBR’s sustainability initiative aimed at finding engineering solutions to one of the greatest environmental challenges facing our world – the elimination of plastics in the ocean. The program began in 2018 and has since found homes in KBR offices around the world. Over the last two years, KBR employees from Houston to Poland to Singapore have partnered with local schools to clean up beaches and share their engineering expertise and knowledge in the classroom. One Ocean has not only offered KBR employees an opportunity to make a positive impact in the communities in which we live and work, but to also engage with the next generation to help solve the issue of ocean pollution in a fun, collaborative way.

Leatherhead

KBR engineers in Leatherhead, Surrey worked closely with three diverse schools locally to pilot the program in 2018. Today, the program is being delivered in four local schools in Leatherhead and includes a robust year-long syllabus equipping students with an understanding of the complexity behind this global issue culminating in students coming up with their own creative solutions to plastic pollution in the ocean.

Each year, One Ocean kicks off with a beach clean-up involving all participating students, KBR graduate engineers and KBR staff. This year’s event was held in Brighton and included a day long environmental workshop run by a local social enterprise to introduce the 60 students and KBR graduates and staff to the importance of the ocean and real-life examples of the effects of the pollution. The students spent an hour collecting over 40 bags of plastic from the local beach.

Houston

To kick off the One Ocean initiative in Houston, KBR’s IMPACT young professionals organization partnered with a sixth-grade class from the Wharton K-8 Dual Language Academy and the Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing Galveston Bay and the surrounding lands that lead to the Gulf of Mexico in southeast Texas. The team collected more than 140 pounds of trash and debris from the Galveston Bay beaches in two hours.

Following the beach clean-up, IMPACT members assisted GBF staff with their “Students in Action” program, a series of educational lessons focused on coastal protection and wildlife preservation. Students had the opportunity to interact with marine life, observe birds and insects and learn about the long-term effects that trash and debris have on our beaches.

Saudi Arabia

Led by young professionals in IMPACT Saudi and the office’s HSSE Department, the group launched One Ocean by engaging with three local schools to deliver the program’s syllabus over a 10-week period. Last November, KBR also organized a beach clean-up with more than 75 students, their teachers and additional KBR staff at Half Moon Bay in Al Khobar, collecting 79 large bags of trash from the water and surrounding beach.

This year, the IMPACT Saudi team is looking forward to expanding One Ocean into three additional schools and implementing the program on a full-year basis, creating more opportunities for students to engage with KBR professionals and make a stronger impact on the local community and the environment.

Singapore

KBR’s Singapore office officially launched the One Ocean program as part its Safety Family Day celebration. KBR employees, their family members and 28 students from the Yuvabharathi International School (YIS) were briefed on the dangers of plastic waste in the oceans. The team collected trash from a local beach and made a group effort to ensure the trash was disposed of properly.

Today, KBR engineers visit the YIS students regularly to review syllabus topics and challenge them with real life scenarios.

Poland

KBR successfully rolled out One Ocean in partnership with a local secondary school in Kwidzyn, Poland. Last December, the school welcomed KBR employees to their KBR One Ocean Day event, allowing our employees to showcase the One Ocean program and curriculum and KBR’s other sustainability efforts. In addition, students performed musical numbers and the headmaster presented a speech to the school in the One Ocean-decorated assembly hall.

This year, the Poland One Ocean team is planning a One Ocean for students and KBR staff to participate in cleaning up trash from a local river. The team also plans to increase awareness of the One Ocean program in the Poland office by organizing One Ocean-themed competitions for employees at the office’s upcoming Zero Harm Day.

Chennai

KBR employees in Chennai, India also launched One Ocean in conjunction with the safety team, giving employees and their families an opportunity to learn about and participate in the initiative.

Employees and their families also gathered in the early morning hours for a beach clean-up. The event was a huge success, attracting the attention of members of the public on the beach who jumped in to help clean up trash. In the end, the group’s collective efforts resulted in removing over 30 pounds of trash from the beach.

Raleigh

KBR’s One Ocean team in Raleigh, NC partnered with local citizen volunteer organization Wake County Big Sweep to help clean up litter and trash in Lake Crabtree County Park. The group collected four bags of trash, four bags for recycling and approximately 100 water bottles.  Their efforts prevented the trash from travelling downstream via the Neuse and Cape Fear Rivers to the North Carolina coast and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

As part of the One Ocean program, the Raleigh office introduced new sustainability practices such as eliminating the use of single-use plastics including Styrofoam plates, cups, bowls and spoons as well as providing separate bins for collecting aluminum cans.

Perth

In Perth KBR launched One Ocean at the Petroleum Club at Western Australia’s 2019 Next Generation Schools Program Student Expo. Approximately 300 students visited KBR’s display stations to learn more about the One Ocean program and to engage in activities which included a “Spaghetti & Marshmallow Challenge,” launch of the One Ocean mobile app and virtual reality demonstrations of FLNG platforms and valve maintenance and safety.

The Australia One Ocean team is currently in talks with local area schools to establish the curriculum and is planning to launch in coordination with a local college’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program. 

KBR knows that to lead is to serve. That’s why we are all working together through initiatives like Once Ocean to build a sustainable future, honoring the wider community and the lives we touch.