Satellite telecommmunications specialist Satlink has contributed, with recycling company Bureo Inc, to the collection of a hundred tonnes of fishing nets along the coast of Chile, through the Net100-Net + Positive Project, which is a finalist of the Green Latin America Awards in the Oceans category.
This initiative, which has achieved its goal six months ahead of schedule, is a collaboration between Satlink, Bureo and the NGO World Animal Protection, through the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), and is also in the running for the Latin America Green Awards.
The Net100-Net + Positive Project seeks to manage these materials in a more sustainable manner, by recycling and reusing them into value added products such as skateboards, sunglasses and office chairs.
This activity contributes to create employment in the artisanal fishing communities of Chile that participate in the project. Likewise, the funds generated will serve to finance social initiatives such as environmental education courses in primary schools, installation of waste collection containers or renewable energy projects.
The overarching goal of this project is to create a cross-sectoral partnership to scale efforts to collect and recycle end of life fishing gear, providing a sustainable use for the material and reducing the risk of ghost gear polluting the oceans.
GGGI works through collaborative projects to implement best practices, create and replicate successful solutions and build evidence of the problem globally.
By reaching their hundred tonne goal, Satlink fulfilled a commitment made last October during the Our Ocean 2018 conference.
Thanks to the joint effort by Satlink, World Animal Protection and Bureo, the Net+Positiva programme now has the potential to collect over 3000 tonnes of fishing gear annually. To this end, it is expected that this recycling model will expand to Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico.
Latin America Green Awards
Net 100-Net Positiva is a finalist in the Oceans category of the Latin America Green Awards, which recognizes initiatives that use innovative approaches to recover resources and waste to preserve marine ecosystems. The winners of these prizes will be announced in Guayaquil in Ecuador in August.
The Net100-Net Positiva has achieved a sixth place in the Solid Waste category, and 19th position in the 500 projects included in the ranking of Social and Environmental Projects of Latin-American, out of over 2000 entries from 19 countries.
Established in 1992, Satlink is a Spanish engineering company specialising in satellite telecommunications. It has agreements with the global satellite networks Inmarsat, Thuraya, Iridium and Hispasat, and is a world leader as a provider of technological solutions for the fishing sector and also markets satellite communications solutions in the terrestrial and air environment.
Bureo is a certified Benefits Corporation operating between California and Chile focused on developing innovative solutions to prevent ocean plastic pollution. In 2013 Bureo founded Chile’s first fishing net collection and recycling program,‘Net+Positiva’, with the mission to provide fishermen access to fishnet waste disposal points along the coast of Chile as a means to prevent ocean pollution. Through partnerships with a growing list of companies such as Patagonia and Costa Sunglasses, Bureo is able to transform this once harmful plastic pollution into new positive products.
