As we continually pollute the earth with plastics,
here’s an attempt to convert some of the waste
(i.p. nylon) into useful material instead.
... Fishy Filaments? doesn?t pretend to address all these issues. Our aim is to provide a win-win solution to fishing communities by taking end-of-life fishing gear and some of the plastics caught during normal fishing activities, then transforming them into commercially viable products that have the potential for a multitude of uses.Our first product will be a recycled nylon filament for use in 3D printing.
Unlike established nylon recycling routes our solution uses simple
mechanical and thermal processes that can be achieved at a local
scale and with no harsh chemicals added. Our next project is
to complete on-going R&D on recycling larger trawl nets made
of polyethylene and polypropylene.
Looking further re recycling (as I recall there being some
effort at this when Maine lobster fishers were required to
get rid of floating (PP) rope for sinking line so as to avoid
their “trawls” --mile-long “strings” of lobster pots tied on w/snoods–
from snagging northern right whales, who tend to swim with
open jaws when feeding and can thus snag the line),
I found that apparently recycling such stuff is yet an open
challenge --to wit:
[ca. April 2017]
www.penbaypilot.com/article/eva-murray-pot-warp-and-its-huge-waste-stream/85143
?Over 1 million pounds of the float rope was sent to Conigliaro Industries in Framingham MA where it was chopped up and used as a lightweight aggregate in concrete products.?And then this short-lived recycling program was ended.
