Are reusable earplugs actually better for the environment than foam?

Yes — a single pair of Happy Ears replaces hundreds of disposable foam earplugs.

What are Happy Ears Ocean Plastics made from?

Post-consumer plastic recovered from the North Atlantic. Processed and moulded in Sweden.

Are the earplugs themselves biodegradable?

The earplugs are not biodegradable — they last for hundreds of uses. The packaging, however, is fully compostable and biodegradable.

How do Ocean Plastics compare to foam earplugs for noise reduction?

CE-certified at 27 dB SNR — the highest noise reduction of any reusable earplug.

Do they work for sleeping, swimming and concerts?

Yes. Ocean Plastics at 27 dB SNR are our best earplugs for sleeping and swimming.

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Ocean Plastics · CE-certified 27 dB · Made in Sweden

This used to be a fishing net

Somewhere in the North Atlantic a net was cut loose and left to drift. Abandoned gear doesn't stop fishing — it just stops being checked. We take that material out of the water and turn it into earplugs you'll use for years.

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Press

4.6 (848)

Happy Ears Transparent Discovery Pack

Includes all sizes. Find your perfect fit.

Regular price: $49.50

4.7 (847)

Happy Ears Ocean Plastics Green Discovery Pack

Includes all sizes. Find your perfect fit.

Regular price: $49.50

A net doesn't stop working when you stop using it

Lost and abandoned fishing gear is the part of ocean plastic nobody photographs. It sinks, drifts and keeps catching — fish, turtles, seals, whales — for decades after the boat has gone home. Fishermen call it ghost gear, and it is the most lethal category of plastic in the sea.

It is also, unlike most marine plastic, made of something worth recovering. Net and rope is dense, uniform and engineered to survive saltwater. Once it has been cleaned and pelletised it behaves like new material. That is why we went looking for it.

What is out there

500,000–1,000,000

tonnes of fishing gear lost or discarded into the ocean every year · WWF

46%

of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, by mass, is discarded nets, lines and rope · WWF

600 years

how long abandoned fishing gear can take to break down · World Animal Protection

100,000+

whales, dolphins, seals and turtles caught in ghost gear every year · World Animal Protection

The process

Net to pellet to earplug

Recovered. Gear is collected from the North Atlantic through marine recovery programmes and coastal collection, before it degrades into microplastic.

Reprocessed. Sorted, cleaned, shredded, pelletised. The green is not a dye — it is what the recovered material looks like coming out of the process, which is why no two batches are precisely the same shade.

Remade. Moulded in Sweden into the same shape we have made since 2010, certified to EN 352 at 27 dB SNR, tested like every other pair of Happy Ears.

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Not all recycled plastic is worth the trouble

It was still doing harm. A bottle in landfill is inert. A net in the water is actively killing for as long as it stays intact — which is most of a human lifetime.

It is high-grade material. Fishing gear is engineered to survive saltwater, UV and constant load. Terrible for the ocean; excellent for something that has to hold its shape in your ear for years.

It funds the recovery. Ghost gear only comes out of the water if someone is paid to bring it in. Demand for the material is what pays for the boats.

One pair instead of 365

Over a billion single-use foam earplugs are thrown away every year. Recovering material from the sea is only worth doing if the thing you make from it stays in use.

	Foamsingle use	Generic reusablesilicone	Happy Ears Ocean Plastics
Material	Virgin PU foam	Basic silicone or TPE	Recovered marine plastic
Lifespan	One night	A few nights	Years — hundreds of uses
Sizes	One size	1–2 tips	Three — S / M / L
Cleaning	Not possible	Picks up lint	Rinse in warm water and reuse
Noise reduction	Varies with insertion	SNR ~20–26 dB	SNR 27 dB · CE EN 352
Made in	Various	Various	Sweden, since 2010
End of life	Landfill	Landfill	Still in your bag