Recycle Môr: Pembrokeshire Net Collection Pilot Scheme
WATERHAUL STORIES
Recovering nets off the coastline is a huge part of what we do, but we don’t only want to remove them when they are washed back to shore, we want to stop them at the source before they have a chance to engage in ghost fishing. To do this, we are working on building relationships and connecting with local harbours and fishers to put schemes into place to capture end of life nets at the source.
Recycle Môr is our new partner project in collaboration with Sea Trust in Pembrokeshire, which is designed to tackle end-of-life fishing nets in the area. The scheme is a five-month pilot project, which provides fishing gear recycling bins in various harbours across the area. The harbours involved include Saundersfoot, Tenby, Porthgain and Lower Town in Fishguard.
There are normally high costs associated with the disposal of fishing gear and so this project provides fishers free disposal of their end of life fishing gear, to incentivise increased net recycling. The fishing gear that enters this scheme will be sorted and then the net and rope will then transformed by us into our 100% recycled eyewear and also our litter pickers. The project has been made possible through funding from European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (funded by the European Union and the Welsh Government), but the longer term aims of the project are for it to become self sustainable through the sale of our recycled products.
"As a marine conservation charity, marine plastic is always one of our main priorities. Through previous projects we have identified a need for better waste collection in harbours, especially in smaller harbours. This needed an innovative and sustainable solution, there is a large expense associated with removing waste but repurposing it into new high-quality items could be the solution."
Lloyd Nelmes, Marine Project Officer at Sea Trust
We’re really excited to be working on this new project and if you want to find out more or how to become involved with this pilot scheme take a look at the Recycle Môr webpage.
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