Call for sports and swimwear companies to join Healthy Seas project
11/10/2013
About 640,000 tons of discarded fishing gear is estimated to be languishing in the oceans, killing millions of fish, marine mammals and birds per year and damaging marine ecologies.
The initiative, in collaboration with Dutch environmental group ECNC, has begun collecting some of these nets and transporting them to fibre producer Aquafil’s sorting and depolymerisation plants in Slovenia where they are recycled into new nylon 6 yarns, Econyl.
The new yarns have the same properties as those made from virgin materials; Aquafil estimates seven barrels of oil are saved per ton.
Sock manufacturer Star Sock is blending the nylon with cotton from the Better Cotton scheme, with the first products going on sale in May next year.
For an indepth look at the initiative, see the next edition of WSA, published at the beginning of November.
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