Cornish social enterprise boosts efficiency of fishing net recycling

Waterhaul, a social enterprise based in the UK’s Cornwall, has scaled up operations by enhancing its efficiency in recycling discarded fishing nets. Support from Greenbank Recycling, which supplies balers, has been crucial. These balers compact nets into bales, reducing volume by up to 300% compared to loose bags, improving the efficiency of transportation and storage. Founded in 2018, Waterhaul combats marine pollution by transforming discarded nets, which trap marine life and do not degrade, into high-quality adventure products, such as sunglasses. The process involves recovering, sorting, shredding, washing, and extruding the nets into pellets, which are then moulded into products. (Voice)