Waves of change: Plastic Whale on fishing for plastic and building boats from bottles 

07 May 2018 --- Plastic Whale is the first plastic fishing company in the world. They are a social enterprise born out of a desire to rid nature of its plastic invasion, with a particular mission to see all waters as plastic free. PackagingInsights spoke to Pauline de Boer, Marketing & Communications of Plastic Whale, to gain a deeper insight into their multi-pronged approach to ridding waters of plastic while in turn, providing PET plastic a platform as a viable material.

It has been said that plastic is the invention of the 20th century, and it has certainly revolutionized the way we can transport, preserve and package in the food industry alone. Yet, as is common knowledge nowadays, the huge benefits that have come with plastics (low cost, high volume production, lightweight and durable, strength…) have resulted in a high global level of plastic waste.

Plastic waste sharing space with wildlife and nature is a huge modern concern. The Earth Institute and Columbia University data shows that 65 million tons of plastic are in our oceans and, the National Geographic reports that if present trends continue, there will be 12 million metric tons of plastic in landfills by 2050. The rate at which plastic has been enjoyed but misunderstood will require global efforts to rectify. 

Plastic Whale seeks to tackle the global plastic issue by aligning the values of plastic as a valuable raw material through an activist hands-on-mentality. Educating the public is also key priority, while working with PET suppliers and other companies in efforts to spread awareness and enhance sector-wide recycling.

Plastic Fishing
Plastic whale, based in the Netherlands, began in 2011, when founder Marius Smit experienced the presence of ocean plastic in crystal blue oceans and tropical islands, “This was before 'plastic-soup' was mainstream knowledge, so he was really shocked by what he found. When he returned, he planned to do something to tackle it, and then he noticed how prevalent it was in his own backyard: Amsterdam,” says de Boer.

Off the back of this, Plastic Whale was formed. What was initially a foundation, utilizing volunteers and boats to literally “fish” the plastic from the Amsterdam canals, quickly evolved to become a company which recycled the collected plastic into boats, to grow their plastic fishing fleet and give new life to waste PET bottles.

“We collect the bottles in a large container outside of Amsterdam, and we manage to fill this twice every year – last year we collected between 50,000 and 60,000 bottles. Our first supplier will clean and sort the bottles by color, and then he will shred them and create regranulates. We take these granulates to our second supplier, who processes them into a foam – the same type of PET foam used in wind turbines that is extremely strong and light – our boat builder then uses these PET foam for the interior of our boats and the floors are made from recycled bottle caps.”

New life is given to the discarded bottles, through this impressive recycling operation (in total, they have nine boats) but moreover, Plastic Whale further injects life into the PET process through their education programs, which de Boer describes as “a little bit different.”

PET as valuable
Cruising the Dutch canals on recycled PET boats, Plastic Whale takes out children on educational field trips: “We take the kids out to do plastic fishing on educational trips, and in this way, they are doing something really fun and trying to get as much plastic as possible. But, they also understand that the plastic should not be there, both because it is trash but also because it is valuable: they are sitting in a boat made from plastic.”

The assertion that plastic is not a waste product or material seems key to Plastic Whale, and something that is important to teach future generations.

“In itself, PET is a great material as you can re-use and re-use it, without having to use many other virgin materials. The problem is, people view it as waste and not as something very valuable, so a lot of it ends up not in a recycling bin but in the water – after thirty minutes of use. It is thrown and forgotten about, but it is not gone.”

Indeed, multiple voices assert that there is a considerable lack of consumer understanding over what can and cannot be recycled. This has resulted in the visible presence of plastic waste, which has, in turn, led many to believe that plastic is an inherently “bad” material. Educational programs that demonstrate both the value, and efficient disposal of PET could arguably reap broad benefits.

Top-down approach
A further facet of their multi-pronged approach is an array of partnerships with companies such as PET and beverage suppliers. 

“Many companies are really aware of their role in the issue, and what they could be doing ‘wrong,’ and many really want the plastic that ends up in nature to be taken back.”

“So in this way, companies are greatly interested to find out ways to get the material back and reuse it into something new.”

Plastic Whale leads by example in this matter, with their Plastic Whale Circular Furniture range which is a “more scalable way of recycling plastic, and requires even more plastic than the boats.” The range includes chairs, lamps, tables and wall panels and is sold as circular alternatives to furniture for businesses and offices.

“With our new furniture range, we now have partnerships who are looking into recycling their own waste streams for furniture or boats, or even sponsoring a boat so that they can fish for plastic for their own furniture. We really hope to make a change in the furniture world.” To aid this change, Plastic Whale has announced a partnership with Vepa, one of the biggest office furniture companies in the Netherlands. 

Moreover, the company is also working overseas to increase plastic recycling. For example, they work in partnership with SweepSmart, based in Bangalore India. The partnership “takes on disposable centers and makes them more efficient, while also implementing more of a focus on recycling.”

Their overall mission?
“Our overall goal is to go out of business. We will work as hard as we can to see the waters free of palstic and, in the end, go out of business,” concludes de Boer.

That, indeed, will be a job well-done.

By Laxmi Haigh