Ecover to recycle plastic waste from sea
March 16, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Ecover, the Belgian company known for its eco-cleaning products, recently announced that it will be creating new bottles for its products that will be made from plastic waste collected from the sea.
The company will use the plastic waste collected by fishermen trawling the sea, and then it will combine the recycled plastic with another type of plastic that is made using sugar cane. It is expecting to start selling products in the new plastic containers next year.
The company said that it would be working with Closed Loop Recycling, a plastic recycling company in the UK, as well as Waste Free Oceans. Fishing boats will be provided with special equipment to enable them to collect up to eight tonnes of plastic during each trawl. The waste will then be deposited at collection points and delivered to the Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham for processing.
Philip Malmberg, the chief executive of Ecover, said that the company does not yet have a “definitive figure” on the amount of sea plastic that will be used in its new products, but confirmed that they would simply try to use “as much as is possible” depending on how much the fishermen collect.
Malmberg said that the company is “always pushing boundaries” when it comes to sustainability, and its focus on innovation means that it is now creating products that “deliver more than a nod to sustainability”. The company also claims that the new plastic will be the first fully recyclable and sustainable plastic, and confirmed that the costs of the process will not be passed onto consumers.
I am looking for the right way to recycle plastic waste at the Andaman islands and the metallised plastic wrappers are a big problem. Kindly suggest a solution to close the loop at the Andaman islands for the metallised plastic wrappers also, kindly advise asap. Thank you.
This is a fantastic idea. Plastic in the sea is such a major problem that more companies should be doing this. I’d be interested to know whether they’re able to use most of what they find or whether there are safety restrictions or any other problems that might arise with certain plastics.