Old fishing nets recycled into games and sports equipment

A new programme in Chile is helping solve the ocean plastic pollution problem one fishing net at a time.

With discarded fishing nets amounting to nearly 10 percent of all the plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, California’s Bureo skateboarding company started a Net Positiva program to help halt the waste. Based in Chile, the program provides multiple fishing net collection points to help make recycling old nets easy and socially expected. Bureo’s latest product is Jenga Ocean.

Played just like the original teetering tower, Jenga Ocean is made from the same recycled plastic pellets that form the base for Bureo’s premium skateboards. As a bonus, Jenga Ocean comes with special edition rules that teach players about the threat to marine animals by picturing them on each block. Each game contains more than 25 square feet of recycled netting and is available to buy for USD 49.95. And of course, the game’s packaging is fully recyclable and made from recycled materials also.

Ocean plastic is so plentiful that vast ranges of homeware and clothing have been created from it, including boots, bags, cups and bowls. How could these designs and approaches be scaled for industrial use?