Turn ghost nets into products

Assortment of ghost nets

Modern fishing nets are made out of nylon, which cannot biodegrade and therefore stays in our oceans for hundreds if not thousands of years. But now many companies are turning reclaimed ghost nets into clothing, jewelry, sunglasses and many other products!

An estimated 640,000 tonnes of ghost nets are left in our ocean each year.

Source

Benefits

  • Help support initiatives to remove ghost nets from the ocean
  • Products are durable and lightweight, made from resistant materials
  • Reduces the use of virgin plastic materials

Challenges

  • Programs need to incentivise fishermen to opt in to recycling services
  • There are environmental costs associated with the collection, transportation, and cleaning of ghost nets before they can be recycled
  • Can only be recycled once

Making a difference

Since 2013, over 600,000 kg of NetPlus materials have been collected by Bureo from 50 participating fisheries in South America.

There are hundreds of other ways to solve plastic pollution

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