What ECHO-MER does

ECHO-MER is a French non-profit environmental protection association (Association loi 1901) founded in 2001 and headquartered at 8 Quai Georges Simenon in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime. The organization is dedicated to limiting the impacts of human-generated pollution on the marine environment, operating across three principal activity pillars: pedagogical interventions (school animations, beach/port cleanups, public awareness campaigns at nautical events), circular economy material recovery (collection and transformation of boat sails, oyster cultivation bags, cork stoppers, ropes, and wetsuits), and social inclusion through manufacturing partnerships with ESAT (Establishments and Supportive Services for Disabled Persons) and insertion workshops employing people distant from the labor market.

Its core products are artisanal consumer goods manufactured by hand in France from upcycled marine waste, sold through a single physical associative boutique in La Rochelle and an online store at boutique.echo-mer.com. The product portfolio includes bags and accessories made from decommissioned boat sails, decorative baskets made from oyster cultivation bags, crushed cork products, marine pennants, laptop sleeves, and table-art items, alongside an organic cotton textile line. Operations also include dedicated programs for cigarette butt collection ("Épuise ton mégot"), dock cleanup operations, sea fennel harvesting, and audits/studies researching recycling solutions for cork and oyster-bag waste streams.

ECHO-MER's business model combines donation-based funding (collected via Systempay online payments) with retail revenue from its associative boutique, serving individual consumers and environmental supporters in France. The organization reported collection volumes in 2025 across multiple waste categories (millions of cigarette butts, hundreds of kg of ropes, thousands of oyster bags, tonnes of cork stoppers, 1,000+ kg of boat sails and wetsuits). Its go-to-market is community-led, relying on direct engagement at its La Rochelle location, educational programs, sailing event partnerships, and online presence rather than paid acquisition. The 2026 partnership with sailor Wilfrid Clerton for the Route du Rhum represents a brand-awareness initiative aligning the association with vintage sailing and circular economy values.

Name

ECHO-MER

Legal name

Association Echo-Mer

Website

https://echo-mer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Environmental Conservation

akta.pro primary industry

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL) (BPAGABAO)

Keywords

• Marine environmental protection
• Circular economy products
• Marine waste upcycling
• Environmental education services
• Recycled artisan goods

Headquarters

HQ city

La Rochelle

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Associative Boutique Sales: Sale of recycled and upcycled products made from marine materials (bags, oyster baskets, accessories) through online store and physical location in La Rochelle
2. Donations and Support: The association receives donations from supporters through their website to fund environmental protection activities

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ECHO-MER is a non-profit environmental association that protects the marine environment by collecting nautical and oyster-farming waste (used sails, oyster cultivation bags, cork stoppers, ropes, wetsuits) and transforming it into handcrafted artisan products sold through its associative boutique in La Rochelle and online at boutique.echo-mer.com. It complements these activities with pedagogical interventions in schools, beach/port/street cleanup operations, and circular-economy programs carried out in partnership with ESAT and work-inclusion workshops.

Product overview

ECHO-MER operates as a unified environmental protection association offering both recycled products and educational services. The product portfolio centers on the boutique (Boutique associative Echo-Mer), which sells handcrafted goods made from upcycled marine waste materials—primarily boat sails transformed into bags and accessories, oyster cultivation bags repurposed into baskets, and crushed cork from collected stoppers. The association also sells organic cotton clothing as part of its textile line. Complementing the product offerings are services including pedagogical interventions for schools and the public, circular economy programs that collect and transform materials, and beach/port cleanup operations. All products are artisanally manufactured in France, with partnerships supporting social inclusion through ESAT and work integration workshops.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sacs en Voiles (Bags made from recycled boat sails)

Quantifiable outcome

• Significant marine waste collected and valorized annually including sails, oyster bags, cork stoppers, ropes, and wetsuits

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Wilfrid ClertoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2026Partnership with experienced sailor Wilfrid Clerton for the Route du Rhum 2026 in the Vintage Mono category aboard Kriter VIII. The partnership aligns Echo-Mer's circular economy philosophy with the Vintage category's sustainability values of giving second life to exceptional boats rather than building new ones, reducing carbon footprint by up to 60%.
• ESAT and Insertion WorkshopscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEcho-Mer works with ESAT (Establishments and Supportive Services for Disabled Persons) and social insertion workshops for the creation of recycled products, supporting social inclusion and employing people distant from employment.
• EthikdominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEthikdo gift cards accepted at the Echo-Mer boutique, valid exclusively in-store for all boutique articles.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• The Ocean Cleanup: The Ocean Cleanup develops technology to remove plastic from oceans and rivers. It shares ECHO-MER's marine waste collection mission but pursues a tech-driven, large-scale approach rather than artisanal upcycling.
• Parley for the Oceans: Parley partners with brands to develop recycled marine-plastic materials and runs large-scale ocean cleanup and education campaigns. Comparable to ECHO-MER in its marine-waste-to-product narrative and educational mission.
• Waste2Wear: Waste2Wear produces textiles and recycled products from plastic bottles and marine litter. Comparable to ECHO-MER's textile and accessory line built from recycled marine materials.
• Healthy Seas, a journey from waste to wear: Healthy Seas recovers abandoned fishing nets and transforms them into textile products in partnership with brands. Closely comparable to ECHO-MER's rope/sail-to-product upcycling model within the European marine circular economy.

Broad incumbents

• Sea Shepherd: Sea Shepherd is a major marine conservation organization focused on marine habitat protection. While it overlaps with ECHO-MER's marine protection mission, it is enforcement- and advocacy-led rather than circular-economy-led.
• WWF: World Wildlife Fund is a global environmental NGO with marine conservation programs. Relevant as a large incumbent nonprofit that competes for donor dollars and public attention with ECHO-MER's marine mission.
• Greenpeace: Greenpeace is a global environmental NGO with advocacy-led marine campaigns. Overlaps with ECHO-MER's public-awareness and education work but operates at vastly larger scale and budget.
• Surfrider Foundation: Surfrider Foundation is a large, established marine environmental NGO with education, advocacy, and beach cleanup programs. It maps onto ECHO-MER's pedagogy and cleanup activities but operates at a much larger geographic and budget scale.

Direct peers

• Bureo: Bureo collects end-of-life fishing nets and turns them into sustainable raw materials and consumer products (skateboards, sunglasses). Highly comparable to ECHO-MER's upcycling of marine ropes and oyster bags into artisan goods.
• 4ocean: 4ocean operates a marine debris removal business funded by selling branded bracelets and other products made from recovered materials. It is the closest direct analog to ECHO-MER's cleanup-plus-upcycled-product model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/echo-mer

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ECHO-MER