Ghost gear pollution is a huge problem and a major contributor to the ocean plastics crisis in every major body of water in the world. Ghost gear, which includes the tangles of discarded or lost ropes and fishing nets found washed up on reefs or drifting in the open sea, forms hazardous, nearly invisible traps that injure and kill marine life.
An estimated 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear enters the ocean every year, and now constitutes some 10% of the plastic waste in the oceans.
Since 2022, Maastricht-based Healix has been operating a recycling facility that processes and recycles ghost gear into new products. The plant has an annual capacity of 6,000 tones of polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), saving almost 10,000 tones of CO2 emissions per year. Healix’s branded line of recycled polymers, called Healix, includes PP pellets made of baler twine, maritime ropes, and big bags, as well as HDPE pellets from fishing nets and tulip nets.
The company has recently received funding from the Dutch province of Limburg, LIOF, to continue its work. It has also partnered with Coca-Cola Netherlands to produce recycled drink crates from discarded tulip nets.
Now, Healix has announced a new contract manufacturing partnership with Oceanize. The Norway-based marine plastic recycler will start processing and recycling maritime ropes from aquaculture into Healix’s proprietary grade of PP pellets, called XPP-MR.
Oceanize will exclusively market and sell Healix XPP-MR in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, with Healix covering the rest of Europe.
Aquaculture has a long tradition in the Nordic countries. Norway, for example, produces more than half of the farmed salmon in the world. Aquaculture's contribution to ghost gear pollution is one of its major sustainability challenges.
"Joining forces with Oceanize represents a very significant moment in our quest to create a sustainable future for plastic fibre waste,” said Marcel Alberts, CEO of Healix. “By combining our technologies and expertise, we can significantly amplify our impact, keeping plastics within the economy and out of our oceans,” he concluded.
The new partnership will be celebrated at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) on June 19-20, 2024, where Oceanize will join Healix at their stand Y8.