Aquafil USA partners with Vancouver-based harbour for Nylon 6 net collection

Aquafil USA has partnered with Steveston Harbour Authority near Vancouver, British Columbia to develop an efficient system to collect and recover Nylon 6 commercial “wild catch” fishing nets. After a year of planning and collecting, the first load of more than 16 metric tons was shipped to Ljubljana, Slovenia on November 11 to be processed through the ECONYL® Regeneration System.

Steveston Harbour Authority, between busy fishing seasons, has utilized Aquafil’s custom designed portable ID system to effectively sort used Nylon 6 commercial fishing nets for regeneration.

Steveston Harbour Authority adapted a Seine Lane, typically used for net repairs, to strip the nets of floats, ropes and weights. The nets are then packaged and made ready for Aquafil to pick up and transport to Slovenia.

“The idea of this pilot net depot is to demonstrate an efficient collection and recovery system for commercial nets – to get the word out that most fish netting and much of the gear associated with the commercial fishing industry can be reused or recycled, as now demonstrated buy the Aquafil /SHA partnership,” said Jim Lindsey, director of recycling at Aquafil USA. “This is a win-win for all parties involved, particularly the environment as we are not letting these valuable sustainable resources be wasted to landfill, left in perpetual storage or possibly egressing negatively into the environment. We are trying to catch the nets before they become neglected and get intentionally dumped at sea.”