THE PROBLEM
Fishing gear - nets and ropes - pose a significant risk to sea life if cut away in the ocean. Unfortunately, incentives do not exist to recover this gear so at the end of its life, most gets landfilled or simply cut away at sea. It's a huge reason for why fishing nets are the largest ocean plastic polluter.
THE SOLUTION
This IMPAC+ project provides the funds needed to incentivize collection and recycling of this gear that otherwise, without Impac+, would not be reclaimed.
WHAT WE LIKE
This program creates a pathway for the reclamation of end of life fishing gear. Our partners are an amazing women-owned, small business working directly with fishermen and city governments to incentivize them to recycle used marine waste instead of simply dumping it!
THE PROBLEM
Plastic recycling generates plastic waste effluent as a standard part of the process. This dirty discharge known as "Mud" is at risk of being discharged into the wastewater and, in the best-case, is usually taken to the nearest landfill.
THE SOLUTION
This Impac+ program repurposes the “Mud” into useful building materials. It's composition is perfect for producing bricks! Unfortunately, these recycled plastic compound bricks are slightly more expensive than standard building bricks, so Impac+ program incentivizes the reuse of the “Mud” in the bricks by making them competitive on the open market.
WHAT WE LIKE
Recycling is a dirty business and we love the creativity of this program. This industry is all about finding value in what was previously considered valueless and this program is the perfect example of that.
THE PROBLEM
Waterway plastic is a huge contributor to ocean plastic, but is typically low-quality, and heavily mixed with organic waste so as little as 20% of the material collected is plastic. This creates a significant need for costly sorting and as a result, there is no commercial incentive for the recovery of this material.
THE SOLUTION
Catch waterway plastic, sort it and return any viable material to the circular economy. The balance will be properly disposed of locally.
WHAT WE LIKE
Waterway plastic waste is the #1 contributor to ocean plastic globally. If we can turn off the tap on waterway plastic we have a chance of stopping ocean plastic pollution at scale.