Marine litter from non-degradable plastics ends up as macro- and micro-plastic while lost and abandoned fishing gears can cause "ghost fishing", resulting in unaccounted for mortality. The main working hypothesis is that the problems associated with marine plastic litter caused by the fishing and aquaculture sectors can be significantly reduced if traditional plastics in these sectors are replaced with new biodegradable materials. The goal of this centre is to develop technologies and new products, to improve the governance framework and to foster innovations that enable the plastic value chains to become more circular and resource efficient. This will reduce the carbon and greenhouse gas footprints so that they are more in line with the UN climate, energy, and sustainable development goals (UN SDG 12, 14).
The actions necessary to meet the objectives of the centre are: i) Create biodegradable materials for fishing gears (twines, ropes, nets, etc.) that have equal or improved mechanical properties and capture efficiencies for fishing compared to non-degradable plastics currently used by the fishing and aquaculture industries; ii) Design biodegradable plastic materials with a smarter degradation profile, meaning that they should have stable mechanical properties during service time followed by rapid degradation; iii) Make biodegradable plastics commercially available and economically accessible for the end-users; iv) Outline governance incentives promoting the use of biodegradable gears; and v) Help establish a supply industry that can deliver gears and services to the end-user sectors.
This centre is designed to address the challenges described above, to build research-based solutions and to help the industry develop sustainable innovations for the global market.
The centre has 14 industrial partners from the fisheries and aquaculture industries and equipment suppliers as well as from five national research institutions. They are UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, SINTEF Ocean, Norner research, SINTEF Industry and Norsus.
The centre is based on six themes. We will develop new types of plastics (i.e. polymers in fibres for twines, nets, ropes, etc.). We will also test the strength, durability and degradation time of these new materials. Extensive field experiments will then be carried out on various fishing vessels and aquaculture facilities to verify the efficiency and durability of the new materials. Studies on the motivation and incentives that the fishing industry has for being able to use new materials will be carried out. We will also complete lifecycle analyses of the materials used by the fishing industry. Dissemination of the results from this development work will make it easier for suppliers and the fishing industry to use biodegradable materials.
The expected impact of this centre is to reduce plastic pollution in the marine environment, thereby reducing the effects of macro-/microplastics as well as ghost fishing caused by the fishing and aquaculture industries. The centre will lead to the development of profitable and socially accepted circular business models to enhance market uptake and large-scale utilization of biodegradable plastics to replace materials derived from fossil fuels (oil). Moreover, the centre will optimise and/or validate waste sorting technologies and circular waste processing options (reuse, mechanical, chemical and organic recycling) for biodegradable materials.