By Emre Peker
Companies seeking to cut plastic use are tapping a vast source
of raw materials: ocean garbage.
Coca-Cola Co. recently unveiled a bottle made in part of
recycled marine litter. Interface Inc., the world's biggest maker
of carpet tiles, is weaving rugs with yarns produced from discarded
fishnets. Startups are raising funds to fish for plastics and make
new products.
"There's value in this, and if you do it right, it doesn't have
to cost, " said Nigel Stansfield, Atlanta-based Interface's
president for Europe, Africa and Asia.
Striking that balance presents a challenge for companies
striving to do good, make money and avoid accusations of
greenwashing, or making bogus environmental claims.
Douglas Rader, chief oceans scientist at the nonprofit
Environmental Defense Fund, welcomed all the initiatives, even
though they only scratch the surface. "The problem is massive in
its scale," he said.
The weight of ocean plastic will rival that of fish by 2050,
according to the U.K.-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Each year,
roughly eight million tons of plastic leak into the ocean -- the
equivalent of a garbage truck's worth of trash each minute --
because of poor or lacking waste-management systems. That amounts
to about $10 billion worth of packaging materials based on market
prices, the nonprofit's calculations show.
But snagging plastic from oceans and reusing it are difficult.
Extended exposure to saltwater degrades plastic, making it more
expensive to recycle, said Al Carey, executive chairman of North
Carolina-based fiber company Unifi Inc.
The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit, raised $22 million to launch an
autonomous floating trash collector in the Pacific last September,
but it collapsed in December. Founder Boyan Slat recently presented
a sturdier version but said more development is needed to make the
project economically sustainable.
Overuse of plastics is the bigger problem, say
environmentalists. Global plastics production nearly doubled to
some 350 million metric tons annually since 2002 and is forecast to
triple by 2050, according to industry association PlasticsEurope
and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
"We're never going to recycle our way out of this plastic
crisis," said Kevin Stairs, a chemicals and pollution expert at
Greenpeace. Recycling makes people think there is a solution but,
he added, "that's simply not the case."
Yet companies keep launching recycling initiatives, partly to
meet consumer demand for more sustainable products and to bolster
corporate-responsibility credentials. Adidas AG in 2015 unveiled a
sneaker made partially from fishing nets recycled into nylon
thread. Making 50 prototype pairs highlighted difficulties.
Adidas now has more than 450 products -- from Manchester United
jerseys to jackets -- that it labels "ocean plastic." But unlike
its initial sneakers, these aren't made of trash fished from the
seas. Adidas instead uses plastics collected from coastal
areas.
"We were looking for raw-material sources that could supply much
larger quantities," said spokesman Stefan Pursche, adding that
collecting plastic waste from beaches presented a more reliable
option.
The switch highlights another obstacle to cleaning oceans:
Abundant recycling-ready plastic on land diminishes incentives to
fish for it. Instead, many companies are intercepting it at the
shore.
"Plastic in the ocean at some point needs to be tackled, but at
this point it's about turning the tap off," said Oliver Campbell,
Dell Technologies Inc.'s packaging and procurement director.
Since 2017 Dell has recycled 27 metric tons of ocean-bound
plastic collected within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of coastlines or
waterways in the developing world. The company reuses the material
for packaging and is expanding the initiative.
HP Inc. says it sourced 450 metric tons of trash at risk of
reaching the sea in Haiti, equivalent to 35 million plastic
bottles, to make ink cartridges and parts of laptops and
monitors.
The tech companies, together with General Motors Co., Interface
and others, founded NextWave Plastics in 2017 to commercialize
supply chains that prevent plastic getting to oceans.
Mr. Campbell says the cost of ocean-bound plastics is similar to
using other recycled materials and declining.
Unifi, which already produces polyester yarns from plastic
bottles, recently unveiled a new fiber made from ocean-bound
plastics. The supply chain is expensive and complicated but Mr.
Carey said the company "listened to our customers and found an
opportunity."
Several initiatives are paying fishermen and coastal communities
to collect marine litter. Companies behind the efforts say they
provide financial opportunities, raise consumer awareness and boost
brands.
"People feel good they are contributing to something," said
Alexander Taylor, who designed the Adidas sneaker using
fishnets.
Interface's Net-Works program, launched in 2012 to collect
abandoned fishnets in the Philippines, expanded to more than 40
locations, including in Cameroon. The project has recovered some
240 metric tons of fishing nets and supports the livelihood of
2,200 families.
Coca-Cola in October introduced its first plastic bottle made
with 25% recycled marine litter. An initial run of 300 bottles
shows chemical recycling can make damaged ocean-plastics reusable,
the company said.
"The more we create the demand for these materials, the more
people will be incentivized," said Bruno van Gompel, Coca-Cola's
Western Europe supply chain director. "Even cleaning up beaches and
the sea will become a new type of economy."
Hundreds of other entrepreneurs are crowdfunding startups to
recycle ocean waste into surfboards, swimwear, chairs and
backpacks.
François Van den Abeele launched Sea2See in 2016 with a
EUR48,000 ($53,300) online fundraiser to recycle marine litter into
sunglasses. The Barcelona-based startup sells its eyewear through
roughly 3,000 shops world-wide and expects to nearly triple
revenues to EUR4.5 million next year.
Mr. Van den Abeele's recycling method, which turns recovered
plastic into pellets that can be used to make other products, is
gold-certified by Cradle to Cradle, a California-based institute
promoting sustainable design that Alphabet Inc.'s Google,
Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc. and other multinationals use for
ecologically responsible procurement. Sea2See plans to build a
recycling plant and sell its pellets to other manufacturers.
"We're trying to give a new vision to trash," Mr. Van den Abeele
said, "and hopefully using simple products to change the way people
think."
Write to Emre Peker at emre.peker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 04, 2019 09:06 ET (14:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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