AIMPLAS will emphasise the importance of continuing to remove plastics from the sea on World Oceans Day (8 June). In line with AIMPLAS? own environmental responsibility, the Valencia-based plastics technology centre is working on several projects to recover plastic waste and end-of-life fishing nets for recycling into new high added-value products.

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AIMPLAS

AIMPLAS emphasises the importance of continuing to remove plastics from the sea on World Oceans Day

AIMPLAS has processed around 5,200kg of marine litter so far, from which it has helped manufacture 15 benches as a part of the Coca Cola Circular Seas project.

AIMPLAS has processed around 5,200kg of marine litter so far, from which it has helped manufacture 15 benches as a part of the Coca Cola Circular Seas project in collaboration with the Asociaci?n Vertidos Cero and the NGO Pl?stic Preci?s.

Additionally, AIMPLAS has successfully completed a project to recover marine litter funded by CaixaBank and the Bancaja Foundation within the framework of their second call on the Environment and Sustainable Development. This project made it possible to manufacture new pieces of furniture using recycled plastic material and end-of-life fishing nets and other marine litter.

Through the RepescaPlas Project, AIMPLAS has developed a complete management system for plastic waste recovered from the sea and subsequent recycling to manufacture products of commercial value. This project has met the goal of expanding knowledge about marine litter, its location and different types in order to create a complete passive fishing strategy and management system for this waste with co-operation from the fishing industry, as well as mechanisms for recovery of the plastic fraction.

The European OCEANETS Project aims to develop technological solutions in line with the circular economy model for end-of-life fishing nets. New methods are therefore being researched to prevent the loss of these nets and facilitate their recovery and reuse.

AIMPLAS has included an additive in the material that changes colour when exposed to infrared radiation. This makes it possible to certify that the raw material comes from end-of-life fishing nets. The project is funded by the European Union European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EASME).

AIMPLAS is also researching solutions to remove micro and nanoplastics from both urban and industrial wastewater to prevent their release into the environment. These projects respond to growing concern about the existence of plastic particles measuring less than 5mm (known as microplastics) and less than 1?m (known as nanoplastics) in wastewater.

To capture micro and nanoplastics from wastewater, AIMPLAS is developing new purification technologies with ultrafiltration membranes to be combined with pilot-scale anaerobic digestion processes. It is expected to be over 99 per cent effective.

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» Publication Date: 07/06/2022

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