Plastic, ingenious recycling ideas to save the oceans
Even if you travel the whole earth, you will never learn as much as you learn from the sea. You will never find peace except on the sea, which for its part never has peace.
Pär Fabian Lagerkvist, Nobel Prize in Literature 1951
Have you ever heard of fantastic plastic recycling projects, brilliant ideas often born from little more than teenagers or, even, ultra-technological and futuristic environmental sustainability plans à la Star Wars? Surely you have wondered how much those ideas were the result of real planning and to what extent the company or start-up had invested in marketing plans, social campaigns or expensive press offices. In this article, we are going to tell you about many of those “unbelievable” projects in front of which, alas, you will be forced to break down walls of mistrust.
The data. Before letting ourselves go to the story, however, it seems necessary to rattle off some data just to equip ourselves with the necessary tools to be able to deal with a delicate and complex topic such as that of plastic recycling. According to
Plastics Europe
, the association of European plastics manufacturers, in 2016, out of more than 27 million tonnes of plastic waste collected, only 31% was recycled. The Commission’s target is 100% by 2030. These few numbers could make us, in a short time, abandon the hope of a zero waste and 100% recycled future. But that’s not the case, the good news is there. The recycling situation improves if we limit the analysis to packaging alone, which, according to the data available to the European Commission, makes up 60% of plastic waste. In 2016, out of 16.7 million tons generated of this type, 40.9% went to recycling, 20.3% to landfills and 38.8% to energy recovery. More specifically, for plastic packaging waste, the new figures show that at EU level, over a ten-year period, the level of recycling has increased by 79% while landfilling has decreased by 43%, leading to an overall EU recycling rate of more than 40% for this type of waste. compared to 39.5% in 2014.
And what about Italy? Italy is not doing badly, far from the best performers but in line with European standards and, indeed, slightly above. In our country, 41.1% of plastic packaging waste is sent for recycling. The countries of the North and Centre, such as Slovenia (63.4%), the Czech Republic (61.7%) and Bulgaria, do best in Europe. The Netherlands (50.8%), Sweden (49%) and Germany (48.8%) also performed well.
The alarm. As we have repeatedly mentioned, plastic accounts for between 80 and 90% of the waste dispersed in the marine and coastal environment. What we see floating on the surface of the sea and stranded on the beaches, however, is only the tip of the iceberg of a much more complex problem. In fact, more than 100 million tons of waste are found on the ocean floor. waste that, carried by the currents, reaches even the most remote areas. The alarm is sounded by Legambiente , according to which nine years after the transposition of the European Directive on Marine Strategy, the goal of achieving ‘‘good ecological status” by 2020 is still a long way off. In the meantime, however, studies on the subject have intensified, which have highlighted, without a shadow of a doubt, that plastic waste continues to invade the beaches and seas of the Mediterranean without sparing valuable areas such as that of the International Sanctuary for Marine Mammals.
Ideas. 1) Saving our seas is possible and often the ideas put in place are brilliant, such as that of SEADS – Sea Defence Solutions , the Italian start-up, exclusively made in Italy, which protects the sea from waste. What? Through an innovative system to prevent their arrival through floating barriers to be installed in rivers, capable of redirecting solid waste and river debris to a collection basin where it is accumulated, picked up and sent to a subsequent recycling phase. In addition, these barriers are low maintenance, easy to install and do not impact the flow of rivers or hinder boats and river fauna. For this idea, Sead received the Building a Sustainable Future Award from Rio Mare, on the occasion of the 2018 edition of Seeds&Chips. The Global Food Innovation Summit.
2) Then there’s Gr3n, the start-up that has developed an innovative process, based on the application of microwave technology, which provides for the first time a cost-effective chemical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate, commonly called PET. This new process has the potential to change the way plastics are recycled worldwide, with a huge financial benefit for the entire industry.
These two start-ups, made up of promising and motivated young people, participated in the IH Fellowship on Ocean Cleanup, the first contest held a few months ago and dedicated to innovation projects to reduce the impact of waste or off-shore, coastal and underwater pollution of saltwater. Gr3n, for example, won a prize of 10,000 euros and an incubation course in Impact Hub Milano, organizer of the event together with WWF Italy and with the patronage of the famous fashion house Bulgari.
3) Another brilliant idea is that of Green Rail. It is a company that has created a high-performance and long-lasting railway sleeper, made from recycled materials such as tires and plastics. An idea that, on December 14th, earned the startup a record order for 75 million dollars from the US company Safepower1. To pay homage to this idea, simple and at the same time brilliant, was a jury made up of over 100 representatives of companies and investors who selected, among 100 innovative Italian companies, the most deserving.
We have briefly told you about some ideas put in place for the protection of the oceans because VMEngine, thanks to the sensitivity of its CEO Fabio Cecaro who imparts its values, firmly believes in respecting the environment.
Cloud Computing, which is our bread and butter, is perfectly in line with the principles of energy saving and pollution reduction.
Our vision has always been aimed at protecting the environment and improving living conditions by reducing waste and making business processes more efficient.
