Fishing company Samherji has a comprehensive grading system on board all of its fishing vessels, with waste sorted before being put ashore for recycling.
Waste netting goes ashore and is shipped to Denmark and elsewhere for recycling into new products – such as furniture, and the company has long been holding on to fishing gear that’s past the end of its useful life.
Ágúst Aðalgeirsson at Samherji handles the waste that the fleet puts ashore, including the fishing gear that it’s his job to disassemble and grade to be shipped overseas.
‘Right now I’m taking apart a trawl that was on board the old Kaldbakur and it’s probably five or six years old. Last year I broke up a trawl from the first Baldvin Thorsteinsson, and here at Samherji we have stored everything from the fleet against one day being able to recycle it,’ Ágúst Aðalgeirsson said.
‘There’s quite a collection and now we have made a lot of progress on grading it all and it won’t be long before we’ll be able to do this as waste is delivered. The latest development is that rockhopper rubbers can be recycled, and no longer have to become landfill, as they were in the past.’
Sustainability officer Hildur Hauksdóttir at Icelandic fishing vessel operators’ body SFS has worked with Samherji on its environmental projects.
‘The industry’s aim is to continue to improve the circular economy, which includes ensuring that fishing gear is recycled and to create value from waste,’ she said.
‘What Samherji has been doing in terms of recycling fishing gear has been exemplary. Fishing companies are aware of being part of a circular economy that’s to the benefit of the entities concerned and the community as a whole.’
