Photo: Arthur Goldstein | Unsplash
The first time Lefteris Arapakis was on a fishing boat, the nets pulled up scorpionfish, red mullet, sea bream - and a can of Coke from 1987. In 2016, he launched a nonprofit focused on sea cleanup and fishing education called Enaleia which has now signed up more than half of Greece’s large-scale fishing fleet. This year, he expects to gather nearly 200 tons of plastic — more than 7,500 pounds of plastic a week. Enaleia pays fishing crews a small amount every month for the plastic they gather — between $30 and $90 per crew member. Funding comes from foundations and sales of recovered fishing nets to clothing manufacturers, who reclaim the material for socks, backpacks and shoes. Figuring out what to do with the plastic can be challenging, but demand is growing. Companies such as Adidas have started making shoes and clothing out of reclaimed ocean plastic, although, for now, much of the recycled plastic is mixed with higher-quality recycled plastic to make things like furniture.
|
|
More:
