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Mechanical Recycling of Post-Consumer Polypropylene Fishing Nets: Effect of Blending with Virgin Polymer
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Scientists took old, discarded fishing nets, a major source of ocean plastic pollution, and turned them into new plastic material by blending them with fresh plastic. The recycled blend performed well enough to be reused in products, which could mean less plastic waste polluting oceans, breaking down into microplastics, and eventually ending up in our food and water.
The extensive use of plastic materials across the fisheries sector, including fishing, aquaculture and fish product manufacturing and processing, represents a significant source of environmental pollution. In particular, end-of-life fishing nets, typically made of oil-based polymers, contribute to the accumulation of persistent plastic waste in marine ecosystems. Mechanical recycling has recently emerged as a promising strategy to recover such materials and reintroduce them into production cycles, supporting circular economy practices. In this work, post-consumer polypropylene (PP) fishing nets were collected and mechanically recycled. The recovered polymer was blended with virgin PP at 10 wt% and 30 wt% and processed via extrusion. The resulting materials were characterized in terms of rheological, structural, and mechanical properties to assess their processability and performance. The results demonstrate that recycled PP derived from fishing nets can be effectively reprocessed and used as a secondary raw material, enabling the development of more sustainable polymer systems while reducing dependence on virgin plastics and mitigating environmental impact.
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The mitigation of the ghost nets threat by recycling of polypropylene: Blends, their ageing tests and spectral characterization
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Researchers developed a method to recycle polypropylene plastic from abandoned fishing nets — a major source of ocean microplastics — by blending recycled fibers with fresh plastic and testing the resulting material in simulated seawater. The recycled blends held up as well as new plastic, suggesting ghost net recycling is a practical strategy to reduce marine microplastic pollution.
Mitigation approach of plastic and microplastic pollution through recycling of fishing nets at the end of life
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Discarded fishing nets are a major source of ocean plastic pollution, harming marine life and breaking down into microplastics that can enter the food chain and, eventually, our bodies. Scientists found a way to turn these old nets into new durable materials by combining them with other recycled plastics, offering a practical way to keep this waste out of the ocean and landfills. This kind of recycling could help shrink the growing microplastic problem at its source, rather than just cleaning up after it happens.
Challenges and Opportunities for Recycled Polyethylene Fishing Nets: Towards a Circular Economy
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Researchers examined the challenges of recycling polyethylene from discarded fishing nets, finding that contaminants and degradation during the nets' service life significantly reduce the mechanical properties of recycled resins. The study explores strategies to improve recycled fishing net polyethylene quality and advance circular economy approaches for marine plastic waste.
Converting polyethylene-based fishing net waste into ethylene via catalytic pyrolysis over oyster shell waste
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Scientists found a way to turn old fishing nets, a major source of ocean plastic pollution and microplastics, into ethylene, the building block for making new plastic. By combining discarded oyster shells and carbon dioxide as catalysts, they boosted the process's efficiency, offering a promising way to recycle ocean waste instead of burning or dumping it.
Recycling Approach of Marine Plastic Litter: Highly Filled Composites Obtained by Loading Waste Fishing Nets Fiber into Fluidified Recycled Polystyrene and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
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This study explores recycling waste fishing nets by embedding their fibers into recycled polystyrene and ABS plastics to create highly filled composite materials. The approach offers a pathway to reduce marine plastic litter from abandoned fishing gear while producing useful recycled material.
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