Plastic manufacturer Closed Loop Recycling (Closed Loop) and sustainable cleaning products brand Ecover, yesterday (6 March), launched a joint initiative aimed at creating new packaging from waste plastic collected from the oceans.

The joint project will see the companies run trials on collecting plastic debris littering the seas around the UK for reprocessing.

According to the Marine Conservation Society, plastic debris accounts for almost 60 per cent of all litter found on UK beaches, with much of it ending up in the sea. Figures from the EC suggests that up to 10 million tonnes of litter, mostly plastic, end up in the world's oceans and seas annually.

Under the trials, EU fisherman will collect the floating plastic before sending it to Closed Loop’s processing facility in Dagenham, where it will be turned into new packaging products.

According to Closed Loop, the collected plastic will be converted into a new type of plastic using rHDPE (recycled high-density polyethylene), Ecover's ‘Plant-astic’ (plastic sourced from sugarcane) and the amassed waste plastic itself.

However, it has not been disclosed what percentage of the packaging will derive from the oceanic waste.

Ecover reportedly chose to partner with Closed Loop as it is ‘the only factory to recycle both PET [polyethylene terephthalate, used for plastic bottles] and HDPE [high-density polyethylene, used for milk bottles] plastics’, and reportedly has an ‘excellent understanding of the challenges involved in developing new types of packaging using recycled content’.

Speaking on the recycling process, Closed Loop Recycling CEO Chris Dow said: “It’s great that a large producer such as Ecover is taking such a futuristic view on packaging, showing true commitment to designing on shelf product with recycling in mind.”

Ecover’s Chief Executive, Philip Malmberg added: “As manufacturers we’ve got to take responsibility for sustainability very seriously – to take real action on climate change and the damage done by our over-reliance on fossil fuels, creating ‘green’ products that deliver more than a nod to sustainability.”

Waste Free Oceans

The trial supports the work of the Waste Free Oceans (WFO) project, which seeks to reduce the amount of floating debris around Europe’s coastlines and highlights the important nature of recycling and reusing. The campaign has the backing of several MEPs including Danish MEP Anna Rosbach, Chairwoman of the WFO Foundation.

Set up by industry group European Plastics Converters, the WFO initiative describes itself as ‘an industry-led initiative with the aim of reducing floating marine debris on coastlines by 2020’. It will see boats being equipped with a special trawl that will allow them to collect between two and eight tonnes of waste for cleaning and recycling per trawl. Similar actions have been started in Belgium, Spain, Germany, Greece and Austria.

Commented on the WFO scheme, Dow said: “The Waste Free Oceans initiative is not simply about cleaning up our oceans of unwanted litter, which is of course important in itself environmentally. It’s about the industry taking responsibility for plastic litter and educating people to take responsibility for their own waste and recycle as much of it as possible, in the knowledge that recyclers like us can maximise this resource and enable it to re-used in new food and drink packaging, thus reducing our reliance on oil-rich virgin materials.”

Read more about the impacts of plastic on our oceans in Resource 70, where we speak to film director Candida Brady about her new movie TRASHED and the growing impact of waste on our environment.