The REDCYCLE project: Transforming nets to transform the world
12 tons of disused fishing nets produce 9 tons of recycled, recyclable, eco-friendly clothes.
The ocean under threat
Our planet is constantly being threatened. We pollute and harm it, unaware of the consequences. Water, one of the earth’s most sensitive natural resources, has come under serious threat in recent years. In fact, water pollution has become so serious that many people’s lives are in danger. It’s an issue that concerns everyone.
A major contaminant are the thousands of abandoned fishing nets at risk of turning into marine debris. These nets often end up on the seabed, trapping living creatures for months to come. In fact they are responsible for a high proportion of the accidental deaths in many marine species around the world.
According to the European Environment Agency data, some 640,000 tonnes of discarded fishing nets are believed to be lying on the ocean floor which, in addition to polluting our seas, pose a life-endangering risk to the creatures and organisms that live there. Tons and tons of more unused fishing nets lie abandoned in fishermen's guilds. Although they haven’t been dumped at sea yet, they could easily end up there, threatening the ocean’s habitats. Hundreds of metres lof rope are carried along by tides and storms, eventually sinking to the bottom where they become entangled, often uprooting the organisms that live there. Over time, the plastic in the fishing nets degrades and finds its way into the marine ecosystem, threatening the survival of species and the conservation of the planet.
Given that water occupies 75% of the entire surface of the earth and is essential in the development of all living organisms, the need to minimise the impact of fishing nets on life on the sea bed is obvious.It’s a problem all of us need to address, including the fishermen, who depend on a clean and sustainable ecosystem for their livelihood.
There aren’t many seas, but there are countless ways to look after them
This was the idea behind Redcycle, a collaborative project that aims to clean up the sea and create a better and more habitable maritime environment. This idea emerged from an initiative led by the Organization of Coastal Fishing Producers of Gipuzkoa (OPEGUI) in conjunction with the company Ternua brand and support from the Basque Government. In 2015, they decided to co-develop a project with the aim of fulfilling some of the Basque Government's environmental goals. The project involved the fishermen’s guilds of Bermeo, Getaria and Hondarribia turning their disused fishing nets into sustainable eco-friendly clothes. The three coastal fishing towns came together with a common purpose: they wanted to transform the sea by transforming old fishing nets.
Since its founding in 1994, the Ternua brand has been committed to minimizing the negative impact of the company’s activities on the environment through a series of actions. In 2016, Ternua joined OPEGUI in the collection of 12 tons of abandoned nets which were used to manufacture two models of trousers for their 2018 spring-summer collection. The nets were sent to Aquafil, the pioneering Italian company that developed a unique recycling process for tranforming disused fishing nets and other synthetic waste into a regenerated yarn called ECONYL. Aquafil sent the nets to Slovenia, where they were stored, prepared, shredded and cleaned before being taken to the ECONYL regeneration plant where the raw material ‘waste’ was turned into nylon yarn and sent on to the fabric producers.
The Barcelona-based company, IBQ, makes the fabric by mixing the recycled yarn from the fishing nets with other materials. The new recycled, recyclable, environmentally-friendly fabric is then sent to Ternua Mondragón, where the new garments are designed and manufactured.
Ternua makes 9 tons of recycled polyamide out of 12 tons of abandoned fishing nets, saving the planet 18 tons of oil and 40 tons of CO2. In fact, Nofir points out that they manage to save 39,413 kg of CO2 (3.6 kg of CO2/kg), 18,612 kg of oil (1.7 kgs oil/kg) and 6,680 kg of unusable waste, thereby reducing the carbon footprint, non-renewable resources and waste from products that are destined for landfill, incineration or disposal at sea.
As the Basque Government's Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Leandro Azkue, points out:
"when we talk about the sea, we are not only talking about the importance of having enough fish for our fishermen, we need to keep working every day to keep our oceans clean and healthy so that everyone can enjoy them."
In the past, fishermen used to find a use for the old fishing nets in their vegetable garden. Nowadays, the joint collaboration of the institutions, fishermen, guilds and Ternua has given these nets a new lease of life. This highly significant project has proved that objects that are no longer useful for their intended purpose can still be used to create something worthwhile. OPEGUI representative Xabier Zaldua’s message is clear: “Our contribution to future generations must include not abandoning our fishing nets in the sea and helping to collect marine waste.
The aim of the project is to raise awareness, particularly of future generations, so that we can make the sea a better place for everyone. We need to act together and make everyone aware of the need to protect the planet.