Last week, in the international scientific journal Plos One, a study by the American Institute 5 Gyres was published, from which it follows that the world ocean is polluted by more than 170 trillion plastic particles with a total weight of about 2 million tons. Meanwhile, in many countries, plastic waste from the sea has become an integral part of the economy - in developing countries, more and more startups are making furniture and building materials from plastic waste caught in the ocean, and for many clothing manufacturers, recycled ocean plastic has become a full-fledged part of fashion and sports collections.
У research Institute 5 Gyres examines the situation with plastic waste in the world ocean from 1979 to 2019. The authors note that the volume of emissions in the seas began to increase sharply since 2005. "The exponential growth of microplastics in the world's oceans is a more than obvious signal that it is time for us to take urgent action at the global level," says the co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute Marcus Eriksen.
The report emphasizes that without taking such measures, the amount of plastic waste in the world's oceans will increase by 2040 times by 2,6 compared to today.
The biggest polluters of the ocean with plastic waste are the Philippines — in 2021, their emissions into the sea amounted to 356 tons. This is 35,6% of the total annual volume, which is 1,01 million tons. The second largest volume is India - 126,5 thousand tons per year (12,5%). Malaysia is in third place with 73 tons of emissions (7,3%), and one of the world's largest producers of plastic waste, China, with 80 million tons, is only in fourth place in terms of the volume of garbage dumped into the sea (70 thousand tons — 7%).
This is explained by the fact that not all Chinese plastic waste ends up in the ocean - most of it settles on land. Countries such as the Philippines or Malaysia consist of hundreds of islands, so the vast majority of plastic waste produced in these countries goes directly to the sea.
Since Asian countries throw the most plastic waste into the world's oceans, experts note that its collection and processing in Asian countries is especially important. And in some countries of the region, companies that solve the problem have already appeared.
So, for example, the Indonesian company Robries, founded in 2018, makes furniture and interior items from oceanic plastic. In five years of its activity, the company has already processed 21 tons of plastic waste.
В interview to the Japanese agency Nikkei, the founder of the company Sukriyatun Niama said that his company already processes four types of plastic - polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene and polystyrene.
Vietnamese company ReForm Plastic recycles the cheapest packaging plastic by compression molding. After the plastic waste is collected, sorted and shredded, it is transformed into durable water-resistant panels. Such panels can be used in construction: for example, for roofing as an alternative to bituminous tiles or for the construction of interior partitions as an analogue of plasterboard. Panels from recycled plastic waste can also be used in furniture production as an analogue of chipboard or MDF. Co-founder of ReForm Plastic Kasia Wein in interview Nikkei reported that his company has already processed 500 tons of cheap, unwanted plastic into panels. At this time, the company has built six factories with a total volume of waste processing of about 6 thousand tons per year. By 2030, the company plans to increase the volume of plastic processing to 100 tons.
Singapore company pFibre is fighting plastic in the ocean in a different way. She produces packaging material, which in terms of its qualities can be compared to polyethylene, but unlike it is 100% biodegradable. The company claims that thanks to the organic components, its packaging film completely dissolves in water within three days. pFibre especially emphasizes that in the production of the film it uses plant components that are not part of the human food chain, which is especially relevant for Asia, where people in many countries still suffer from a lack of food.
Socially useful garbage
In Europe and America, they have already found many ways to give garbage a new life. Unlike the countries of Asia, Europe and North America are not among the world leaders in polluting the world's oceans with plastic waste. But since single-use plastic packaging appeared much earlier in these countries, the authorities and entrepreneurs began to fight against plastic waste back in the 1990s. Currently, for many large Western companies, recycling materials and introducing fibers produced from plastic waste into fabrics is not only a well-established business, but also an additional way to attract the attention of consumers.
The Seaqual Initiative, an international project to collect plastic waste from the sea and recycle it, was created in 2016 and is headquartered in Madrid.
As part of the project, environmental organizations, fishermen and activists collect plastic waste in the sea, which is then processed into polyester fiber, identical to natural, and used in the production of clothing.
Since its inception, project participants have fished out a total of 600 tons of trash from the ocean, of which 200 tons went into the production of synthetic fabric. Currently in the project bere an application already several hundred companies and organizations from 60 countries of the world. Seaqual Yarn's patented polyester fiber is used in production not only by small companies, but also by leading global brands.
Among them, for example, the German manufacturer of sportswear and footwear Puma, the German manufacturer of clothing and goods for tourism Jack Wolfskin, manufacturers of sportswear, thermal clothing and accessories Craft Sportswear (Sweden) and Odlo (Switzerland), fashion clothing Lacoste (France), Paul & Shark (Italy), Stone Island (Italy), COS (Sweden), American Eagle Outfitters (USA), children's goods and clothes Chicco (Italy), furniture and home goods IKEA (Sweden), etc.
The Seaqual Initiative is not the only project to collect plastic waste in the ocean and process it into synthetic materials for the production of clothing. Non-profit conservation project Parley For The Oceans since 2015 cooperates with the German sportswear and footwear manufacturer Adidas. The companies have created Adidas X Parley, a line of sneakers and sportswear that uses a synthetic fiber made from sea-collected and recycled plastic waste.
Another manufacturer of outdoor clothing, the American company Patagonia, cooperates with the Bureo project. Its participants — environmental organizations, ecoactivists, and just local residents from four countries — the United States, Peru, Argentina, and Chile — catch fishing nets thrown into the sea, which are then are processed in NetPlus synthetic fiber. From it, Patagonia produces clothing lines — jackets, pants, hats, shorts, swimming trunks, etc.
During its work, the Bureo project recycled 360 tons of synthetic fishing nets, discarded or left in the sea. Other large companies that produce products using NetPlus fiber cooperate with the project. So, the Quiksilver company produces a collection of clothing for summer recreation and swimming. One of the world's largest manufacturers of bicycles, the American company Trek - holders for bicycle bottles. Jenga board game maker releases the Jenga Ocean & Bureo line, in which all parts are made of plastic obtained from recycled fishing nets.
