Port of Rotterdam launched Blue City’s 2018 Plastic Design Challenge, supporting start-ups develop initiatives to realise the circular economy step by step. One of the teams innovated by building a playground from fishing nets.
Specifically, the Team Plastic Playgrounds gave the assignment to find out how to reprocess fishing nets of mainly HDPE quality (high density polyethylene, a waterproof, stiff plastic) while keeping a good economic value.
For the fishing nets that couldn’t be reused in their original form, the team designed a recycling technology that involves cleaning, shredding and melting.
The technology enabled the material to be given a new lease of life, mainly in the form of playground equipment such as football nets and volleyball nets. The original fishing nets are still visible in these designs.
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Therefore, about 300 tonnes of nets were collected in the port, including by the Fishing for Litter programme, in which participating fishermen collect and land plastic waste.
A good reprocessing solution must be devised to prevent the plastic mountain from growing further.
The team worked hard to achieve this result. The team, comprising Valéry Bosch, Tim de Rooij, Luca Loli, Manon Willems and Martin Wodon, was announced as winner of this year’s Plastic Design Challenge.
