Design as a vehicle for using waste of fishing nets and ropes to create new products

Abstract

The world's oceans are full of discarded debris thatdegrades and sinks or drifts ashore. In 1997, the NationalAcademy of Science, estimated that, per year, about 6.4 million ofdebris are dumped in the oceans. The debris in the oceans havevarious origins: sewages, industries, dumpsters and trash left bypeople on beaches - about 80% of the trash found in the ocean wasoriginated on earth and only 20% derives from marine activitiessuch as fishing. One of the phenomena leading to the entrapmentand killing of many animals are ghost nets, which are lostaccidentally or deliberately in the oceans usually by fishermen thatbeing pushed by currents can also damage and destroy coral reefsaffecting all the marine ecosystem. According to UNEP, it isestimated that there are 640.000 tons of ghost nets worldwide,corresponding up to 10% of the waste in the oceans whichrepresents a big threat to marine fauna. With this paper, it isintended to show how Design contributes to the transformation ofmarine debris into new raw materials to create new services andproducts. Currently, there are already being developed solutionsto reuse fishing ropes and nets by transforming them into nylonyarn for the production of clothes and carpets. Also Bureo, aCalifornia and Chile-based start-up, is recycling fishing nets toproduce skateboards and more recently, sunglasses. Through thisresearch, it was intended to study the potential of waste fromfishing activities and the best way to transform them into rawmaterial, valuing them by promoting sustainable, ecological andeconomically viable products. After selecting the study subject reuse of fishing ropes and nets - it was initiated the collection ofinformation and problem analysis to justify the conduct of theresearch, followed by the collection of the referred waste fromHidurbe in Docapesca at Matosinhos's Port to start the respectiveanalysis. Some experiments and tests have been conducted in theMechanical Engineering Department at Faculty of Engineering ofUniversity of Porto to identify the polymers that were picked inorder to use the most suitable material for the development of newsolutions. Furthermore, an injection molding machine and siliconemold - using human force for compression - was used to know thebehaviour of using 100% recycled material. The aim, by creatingproducts from fishing gear waste, is to raise awareness and appealto recycling in order to contribute to the preservation of marineecosystem. Design plays an important role in the development ofsustainable solutions produced by recyclable waste, extending thelife cycle of materials, serving society again.