More than 2.5 tonnes of plastics have been recovered from waters around the Humber estuary and will be used in the production of shampoo bottles by Proctor and Gamble.
The collection of the material, which will be shredded to make post-consumer plastic for recycling, has been backed by the ports of Hull and Goole which are run by Associated British Ports (ABP).
The project is being organised by TerraCycle, in which waste management firm Suez has a 30% stake. The shampoo bottles are to go on sale at a UK retailer later this year, said Terracycle.
ABP marine staff with Hughes Marine Envirocat boat
Explaining the rationale for the work, ABP said: “This initiative aims to reduce waste by recycling the ‘non-recyclable’ and ABP’s marine team and Hughes Marine Service will work hard to support it. ABP’s 21 ports across the UK hope to follow suit and take on the green scheme too.”
To capture the material, the Humber waterways are cleaned by bulldozer-like floating machines – with reduced emissions – called the Waterwitch and Envirocat. The boats collect waste material from the water and it is then separated to divert plastics, steel and wood from going to landfill, ABP explained.
Chris Green, Hull and Goole port manager, said: “This green project is part of ABPs commitment to continually improving our environmental performance and work around our Humber ports to reduce plastics and marine litter.
“One plastic bottle can last for 450 years in the marine environment, slowly fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces, so we as a port authority will lead the way and make the Humber – the UK’s busiest waterway – a cleaner and more environmentally friendly place.”
Mr Green added that ABP staff also litter pick across public areas of the port estates to stop it going into the sea and regular beach cleans are hosted at Spurn.
‘Encouraging’
Lisette Pieters, beach plastics project manager at TerraCycle, said: “It’s very encouraging to see companies such as ABP are engaged in supporting projects such as TerraCycle’s beach plastics recycling programme.
“It helps to clean our oceans and give these reclaimed plastics a second life by being incorporated into new consumer products such as shampoo bottles.”
Fairy
Last year Procter & Gamble reported that it was using an average of 40% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic content across 491 million transparent washing-up liquid bottles globally. It announced plans for the Fairy Ocean Plastic bottle which is to be made from 90% PCR plastic and 10% ocean plastic. The Fairy Ocean Plastic bottles are described as a limited edition at present, with 320,000 bottles being sold across the UK from mid-2018 for approximately two months. (see letsrecycle.com story)
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Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
