Arguments may be raging about the real size of the so-called Pacific Garbage Patch or plastics vortex – for most recent coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 07.01.2011 – but that has not prevented the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.eupc.org) from taking affirmative action when it comes to European coastal waters.

In an effort to retrieve plastics litter, EuPC has signed a cooperation agreement with Thomsea (Saint Hilaire de Riez / France; www.thomsea.fr), which has developed a new trawling net for litter collection that can be used by EU fishermen. Made of 100% recyclable plastics, “the net has originally been developed for oil spills but it can now be adapted to clean up floating marine debris without harming the marine life,” said EuPC managing director Alexandre Dangis.

The cooperation is part of a new EuPC pilot project, titled “European Waste Free Oceans” (EWFO), to collect marine debris and recycle it in the regions where the problem is most prominent. The association hopes to win the support of the EU Commission and the European parliament for the project, which is to be launched this year, once sufficient funds for its realisation have been collected.

The Thomsea system was invented by former French fisherman Thierry Thomazeau, who said small and large vessels can use the net to return between 2-8 t of marine litter. He hopes his system “will stimulate more environmentally responsible behaviour amongst our fishing community and might trigger new opportunities for young fishermen who are currently suffering economically and questioning the future of this profession.”