Recycling discarded fishing gear

The Plastix operation that converts waste into value benefiting the environment in the process.

A company in Denmark, Plastix, has established a way to reuse lost or abandoned fishing gear by converting it into pellets that can be used to produce plastic items. This gives multiple benefits for the environment.

As demand for finite resources continues to grow and as efforts to access them contribute to environmental degradation, it is becoming increasingly apparent that more efficient use and re-use of resources offers both economic and environmental benefits. The take-make-consume-dispose pattern of growth that has existed essentially since the industrial revolution is based on the assumption that resources are cheap and easy to dispose of, a belief that today is increasingly being questioned.

Better resource efficiency offers many advantages

Opposed to this linear model is what is known as the circular economy where products keep their value for as long as possible within the economy by being repeatedly reused and thereby delivering the maximum value and reducing waste. The circular economy offers potentially huge savings. Studies have shown that improved resource efficiency in European industry could reduce raw material needs by 17-24% by 2030 and result in savings of EUR630bn per year. The switch to a circular economy would create new products, new markets, and value for business, and companies are constantly working to improve resource management.

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One of the companies that is involved in this quest is Plastix, a Danish firm based in Lemvig. Plastix takes discarded fishing nets and trawls and converts them into recyclates that in turn can be used to manufacture a number of plastic products. The problem of marine litter was highlighted in the declaration from the G7 meeting in Germany in 2015, which acknowledged that marine litter, and plastics in particular, posed a global challenge to marine and coastal life and ecosystems and potentially also to human health. While marine litter comprises many different articles made of a wide range of materials, plastics are ubiquitous and represent a high proportion of the waste found in the water, on the seabed, on beaches, and increasingly now, also in the guts of fish. Recent research has even found evidence of chemicals used to make plastics present in organisms inhabiting some of the deepest oceanic trenches in the world. Plastic waste is generated on land and ultimately the challenge is to prevent the generation of so many tonnes of waste and to intercept the flow of waste from land to sea.

Significant reduction in CO2 emissions

Removing plastic trash from the ocean is thus laudable from any perspective, and the effort of turning it into products that can replace virgin raw materials, contributes to the goals of the circular economy. Concretely, the benefits of recycling plastics mean carbon dioxide emission savings, the conversion of waste into a valuable resource, as well as all the collateral advantages that come from removing plastic from marine ecosystems. A life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing the carbon footprint of recyclates with that of virgin plastic showed that PA (polyamide) recyclates were more than 20 times better than PA equivalents, and more than 5 times better for PE (polyethylene), and for PP (polypropylene) equivalents. Lost or discarded fishing gear presents its own set of challenges. In addition to being party to all the problems of plastic waste, abandoned fishing gear, such as nets that float in the sea, is a hazard for marine life, fish, sea mammals, reptiles, and even sea birds, that can get trapped in the meshes. Free floating nets can also wrap around propellers causing problems for vessels. Removing nets and other fishing gear from the water to convert them into recyclate would therefore fulfil several purposes.

Collaboration with stakeholders to get the raw material

Plastix converts discarded fishing gear into a product called OceanIX (HDPE, PP and PA). Fishing gear is a source of high quality plastic that is designed to withstand the stresses and strains of fishing and therefore must have high tensile strength and be resistant to physical abrasion, and to chemicals. These properties also contribute to the quality of the recyclate. According to the company, using for example, 1 tonne of the recyclate OceanIX HDPE as opposed to virgin plastic gives a saving of 1.65 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Achieving these savings is only possible if the raw material, the discarded fishing gear, can be collected for the recycling process. Plastix has implemented a system that involves collaborating with the maritime and fishing industry, NGOs, harbours, etc. for the collection of nets, trawls and ropes that can be used to produce the recyclates. Partnerships have been established with organisations in Denmark and the Netherlands such as harbours and fish auctions, for the supply of the raw material.

As an incentive Plastix has created an awards programme that issues certificates in three categories (bronze, silver and gold) to its raw material suppliers that enables them to document and market their efforts to clean up the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, removing equipment discarded or lost at sea, and by saving valuable resources. However, the raw material has to go through a sorting procedure at the collection point to ensure that it is homogenous and then needs to be transported from the collection point to the Plastix facility in Denmark both of which are associated with costs. At Plastix the material is further sorted by polymer type and colour, then shredd
ed, washed, dried, and finally processed in an extruder to give the final product, plastic pellets of OceanIX. It is through individual efforts like this that the goal of circular economy will finally be reached.