Welcome to BLUENET project! We have officially started our journey.
On the 10th of January 2019 project representatives gathered at AZTI’s headquarters of Pasaia to share project objectives and start the work planned and most importantly launch of BLUENET.
BLUENET is a two-year project co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The consortium brings together partners of the Basque Country (AZTI, GAIKER, Itsaskorda) and Italy (NTT). The project is coordinated by AZTI a Research Institution that is committed to the fulfilment of the main challenges associated to the blue marine economy.
The rest of the partnership is composed of GAIKER & NTT (Research Institutions) and ITSASKORDA a relevant SME, which provide the complementary skills to design and implement the proposed recycling scheme to reduce marine litter in a cost-effective way by providing a second life to the materials obtained for marine aquaculture textile products.
By promoting the proactivity of the fishing & aquaculture sector, preventing the disposal of nets and ropes at sea, facilitating the recovery of nets and ropes, and upcycling them as raw material we aim at contributing to the reduction of the marine litter from sea-based sources in the SE Bay of Biscay.
BLUENET proposes a self-sustaining programme that envisages the involvement of key stakeholders through direct contact and workshops with port authorities, fishing associations, aquaculture producers and waste managers.
As a demonstrating activity, 5 fishing vessels and 4 fishing ports will be equipped with fishing gears collection bins. Recovered gears will be upcycled by recycling and using them as raw recycled materials for manufacturing new fishing and aquaculture gears, closing the loop on the circular economy. The targeted polymers are Polyamide, Polypropylene, Polyethylene.
We have two more years of work ahead of us. Follow us on the web and twitter #BLUENET_EUproject for updates.
