Seas & Straws: Jana Koebel, Eco Warrior
Jana Koebel calls herself a tireless eco warrior, and her work proves it. She founded Seas & Straws to help people, hotels and communities go plastic-free, and she works with One Earth One Ocean, leading its new recycling project in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
- Jana’s titles
- Advisor, Plastic Projects, Rotary Club of Newport Beach; Project Manager, One Earth One Ocean (Bocas del Toro); Founder, Seas & Straws
- Founded
- 2018, in Mauritius, by Jana Koebel
- Based in
- Bocas del Toro, Panama, and Germany
- Works with
- One Earth One Ocean; Bocas Recycle Center; Rotary Club of Newport Beach
- Recognition
- Award for outstanding leadership of the Rotary Global Plastic-Free Environment Model; Inland Ocean Ambassadors Program; accredited plastic-free consultant
- Website
- seasandstraws.com
From corporate career to eco warrior
Jana spent eight years in international sales and purchasing, working in France, Ireland, Brussels, Vienna and Germany for global companies. Travelling through more than 30 countries, she kept seeing plastic on once pristine beaches and in the ocean. In 2018, while volunteering with a marine conservation organization in Mauritius, she founded Seas & Straws, first as a blog to explain the problem, and soon as a guide to the solutions.
What Seas & Straws offers
- A free knowledge hub of more than 160 pages on plastic alternatives, the circular economy, recycling, and going plastic-free at home, at the office, for celebrations and when travelling.
- Free fact sheets on plastic bottles, straws, coffee cups, microplastics and everyday plastic items, made to be shared.
- A weekly planner, “Plastic-Free Through the Year”, with one practical change per week.
- Consulting for hotels. Jana trained with Oceanic Global in 2022 as an accredited plastic-free consultant and helps small hotels, boutique hotels and guesthouses cut plastic and improve their operations.
- Coaching for individuals and families who want a healthier home free from single-use plastic.
With One Earth One Ocean in Bocas del Toro
One Earth One Ocean had long wanted to expand into the Caribbean. Jana lives in Bocas del Toro, an archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast where ocean plastic collects on mangrove islands and less than 5 percent of waste reaches recycling. As project manager, she is coordinating a partnership between One Earth One Ocean and the local Bocas Recycle Center to build a complete recycling structure, starting with marine debris removal.
The Bocas Recycle Center already handles plastics, cardboard, cartons, cans and glass, mostly from hotels. Working with One Earth One Ocean lets it process more material, including plastic recovered from the sea. A similar project in Mexico is being planned.
In the news: The Bocas Breeze, 23 May 2026
8 to 10 tons of trash cleared from Solarte mangroves
On 20 May 2026 Jana Koebel of One Earth One Ocean organized a cleanup of illegal dump sites in the mangroves on the south side of Solarte Island, Bocas del Toro. About two dozen volunteers on five boats, with local dive centers and surf schools, hauled out roughly 450 to 500 bags, around 8 to 10 tons of trash, and found a third dump site along the way. The community is now pushing for lasting fixes: certified trash transport from the outer islands, businesses tracking their waste to the official collection service, and watching dump sites.
At EarthX
Jana and Dr. Harald Frank, project lead for the SeeElefant, presented all of One Earth One Ocean’s projects, including the SeeElefant, at the Environmental Xperience at EarthX in Dallas. See the One Earth One Ocean page.
With Rotary
Jana is the advisor for plastic projects for the Rotary Club of Newport Beach, helping the club plan and partner on projects like the Tijuana River cleanup, and was recognized for outstanding leadership of the Rotary Global Plastic-Free Environment Model. See the Seas & Straws project with Rotary.
Connect with Jana
- Visit seasandstraws.com for guides, fact sheets and the newsletter.
- Hotels and organizations can book a consultation through her contact page.
- Support the Bocas del Toro project through One Earth One Ocean.