Why does this matter? As many of us head off to the beach for our summer holidays, this study serves as a sobering reminder that ocean plastic pollution is an ever-growing issue. As more tourists flock to coastal areas, the volume of single-use plastics, such as bottles, wrappers and bags, often increases, much of it ending up in the sea. It should also make us more mindful of how we dispose of waste and consider using more reusable items.

Nano plastics, which are less than 1,000 nm across and invisible to the eye, can enter the ocean through multiple channels. For example, sunlight, ocean turbulence and temperature fluctuations cause larger plastic items to degrade into smaller particles, eventually reaching the nanoscale.

Nano plastics and larger microplastics – particles less than 5 mm across – resulting from industrial processes, washing synthetic fibres and tyre abrasion, among others, can also flow in from rivers or descend from the air. With an estimated 14 million mt of plastic leaking into the ocean every year, a figure that continues to rise, critical measures are needed now to address the problem.

The study also identified polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS) in the collected samples. However, the researchers’ estimate is likely conservative as they were unable to detect two other major classes of plastics known as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), although it is highly probable that these also enter the ocean. The team plans further investigations to understand if these particles were obscured by other molecules in the study. They also want to determine if nano plastics are as prevalent in oceans elsewhere.

Recent research has revealed that micro and nano plastics are ingested by a broad range of aquatic species, from microalgae to predators such as eels, with harmful effects including digestive blockages, immune responses, DNA damage and altered gene expression. The severity of these impacts depends on particle size, chemical composition and degradation. Many plastics also contain endocrine disruptors that interfere with hormonal systems.

Ultimately, these particles enter the human food chain, with regular seafood consumers ingesting thousands every year. While health effects are still being studied, early evidence suggests similar risks in humans, including cellular disruption and exposure to toxic additives. Nano plastics may also act as vectors for pathogens or bacteria, potentially raising the risk of infectious diseases.

Another recent study highlights that micro- and nano plastics are discharged in sea sewage spills. When combined with coastal winds, billions of these particles could lift from the sea and enter the air around coastal towns and cities and be inhaled by residents, posing another potential route for the health risks linked to plastics. The authors have urged the UK government to require water companies to filter out micro- and nano plastics from their wastewater.

Still, removing the vast amount of nano plastics already in the ocean is impossible with current technologies. Instead, the focus must be on prevention. Recycling efforts are key, and the global market for recycled ocean plastics is gaining robust momentum. According to a Custom Market Insights report, it is expected to be worth approximately $1.9 billion this year and could reach $3.5bn by 2034.

Bureo is one such company operating in this space, taking discarded fishing nets and transforming them into 100% recycled raw materials used by household names such as Toyota, Patagonia and Trek. Another player in the area is AION, which recycles ocean plastic into everyday items such as shopping baskets and trays that can be returned for further recycling in a truly circular approach.

Beyond recycling, the world must simply use less plastic. Currently, more than 400 million mt of plastic is produced annually and could triple by 2060.

The next meeting to create the legally binding Plastics Treaty will take place from 5 to 14 August in Geneva, Switzerland. This will attempt to finalise the text after negotiations stalled at the previous round of talks in Busan, South Korea, in late 2024. Nevertheless, at the close of that meeting, 100 countries warned there could be no treaty without a cap on plastic production, a call that was reiterated at the UN Ocean Conference in June. The world will be watching to see if this can finally be achieved in the coming weeks.

Why does this matter? The environmental harms of marine plastic are numerous. Ghost fishing gear comprises 30% of total plastic waste in the oceans. Current data is likely to be an underestimate of the actual abundance of abandoned, lost and otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALFDG) in the ocean.

Large nylon nets can be up to the size of football pitches and take up to 600 years to break down. In the meantime, they harm aquatic life by entrapping creatures. As fishing equipment decomposes, it becomes microplastic pollution, which may have a detrimental effect on human health due to the bioaccumulation of plastics moving up the trophic ladder.

Automating the process of locating ghost nets – as Ghost Net Zero AI is doing – enables a huge speeding up of possible clean up globally. However, funding of clean up activity by governments is essential follow through to make their efforts impactful.

Ocean 14 capital invests in several companies tackling marine plastic. Bureo recycles discarded fishing nets into recycled raw materials used by brands including Patagonia, Toyota and Trek. Annually it collects 1,000+ metric tons of nets across six countries. It exemplifies a path to a circular economy in the fishing industry.

When it comes to solutions to reduce plastic pollution at all stages of the production line, AION tackles the issue at the root. It analyses clients’ plastic-product value chain and identify how to reduce virgin plastic use, replacing it with recycled plastic and how to avoid generating plastic waste in the process.

It is important to see the systemic nature of marine plastic waste. A recent study on the knowns and known unknowns of fishing plastic waste suggested potential reasons for increasing ALDFG fishing material. Pressure from enforcement measures can incentivise illegal fishers to abandon nets to avoid detection.

Meanwhile, operational pressures, such as adverse weather patterns mean that occasionally gear must be abandoned for safety reasons. Furthermore, economic pressure adds an incentive to dispose of materials at sea if the alternatives require additional time and cost.

There are several factors that influence output of plastic at all stages of the value chain. Globally, international laws and enforcing bodies still struggle to monitor and govern the oceans. Whereas, from a financial standpoint, existing economic systems incentivise profit-making and efficiency within the fishing industry more so than environmental stewardship. Therefore, when designing fishing nets, synthetic materials are the obvious choice given their durability.

Additionally, knowledge about the dangers of jettisoning fishing materials is not universally understood, so another approach may be to fund and facilitate training programmes for fishers in areas with low education. NGOs such as Blue Marine Foundation are important partners in this endeavour, as detailed in its 2024 annual report, it facilitated nearly 4,000 to complete training programmes.

Existing international treaties on plastics are patchy and unevenly enforced. Two significant pieces of legislation are the UN Global Plastics Treaty and the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, first introduced in 1989, was amended in 2019 to include plastic waste, aiming to regulate its trade and prevent illegal dumping in developing nations.

Whereas the UN plastic treaty would be legally binding and was under negotiation for two years. However, discussions were paused in 2024 when member states were unable to agree. Negotiations will continue this year.

Why does this matter? Plastic pollution is one of the gravest threats to marine environments, aquatic biodiversity, and the communities and industries that rely on the planet’s oceans. Despite this, plastic production, consumption, and pollution continue to rise, with the world consuming four times more plastic than it did in the 1990s.

The IMO’s appeal to the fishery and shipping sectors is crucial as these industries contribute significantly to marine pollution. For example, 640,000 tonnes of lost or discarded fishing gear – known as “ghost gear” – enter the ocean annually, accounting for around 10% of global marine plastic pollution.

Shipping, on the other hand, is responsible for large amounts of microplastic pollution, often via spills of plastic pellets.

Alongside the IMO’s proposed anti-plastic pollution alliance, several national governments have taken decisive action.

Barbados, a state that is disproportionately impacted by plastic pollution, launched a new National Action Plan in July aimed at reducing plastic pollution by 73% over the next decade.

Action was taken after the UN-endorsed Plastic Drawdown tool revealed that 500 tonnes of plastic had seeped into the Barbadian environment in one year, heavily polluting the island’s seas.

Five key policies form the basis of the National Action Plan. Among these, a ban on single-use plastic bags, a relaunch of the country’s plastic bottle return scheme, and improvements in the separation of recyclables.

Fiji also banned single-use plastic in 2021 as it fights its own battle against marine plastic pollution, of which just 28% originated from the Pacific Island.

Despite the emergence of meaningful action on a regional and industrial level, international plastic treaty progress has been frustratingly slow. In March 2022 at the UN Environment Assembly, 175 nations committed to formulating a legally binding treaty aimed at tackling the full life cycle of plastics.

The aim was to have a legally binding agreement focused on curbing plastic pollution agreed upon by 2024 or 2025. A draft has since been drawn up, but significant differences over the treaty’s scope remain.

Fossil fuel-producing nations argue that recycling and clean-up are the solution. However, the 127 members of the “High Ambition Coalition” propose more stringent production curbs and restrictions on their use in certain products.

While the global community struggles to mount a coordinated attack on marine plastic pollution, innovative companies, such as Novelplast, are developing solutions. Instead of a waste product, the company treats used plastic as a valuable resource by upcycling used PET and polyester feedstocks into recycled products.

With the plastic production industry expected to double in capacity by 2040, re-evaluating society’s perception of plastic from a single to multi-use material is key to reducing pollution levels.

Bureo is another firm championing a similar mindset by converting abandoned fishing nets into high-quality fabrics. The company has established collection initiatives in six countries, successfully recycling over 4.5 million kg of nets since 2013.

As plastic continues to pollute the planet’s oceans, the tireless work of innovative companies, industry groups, and regional governments hold the key to ensuring meaningful reductions to marine plastic pollution. The world’s oceans cannot wait for world leaders to reach an agreement.

1 November, 2023 London: Ocean 14 Capital has announced an investment into Bureo, an innovative company that is on a mission to end fishing net pollution to help protect our oceans by providing fishermen with an end-of-life solution for discarded fishing nets.

These nets, which are collected, cleaned and processed into NetPlus® pellets that are 100% recycled, fully traceable and make for a premium recycled material for nylon fabric and other plastic products, are used by the likes of Toyota Tsusho, Patagonia, Trek, Quiksilver, Brixton, Orvis and more.

Ocean 14 Capital is an impact fund focused on driving a sustainable and regenerative “blue economy” – a sector that uses ocean resources for economic growth and preservation.

Bureo, founded by David Stover, Ben Kneppers and Kevin Ahearn in 2013, received the financial commitment from UK-based Ocean 14 Capital in their Series B raise, led by Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and further supported by like-minded impact investors including Mirova, Susquehanna Foundation and Conservation International Ventures.

This recent fundraise will enable Bureo to expand its facilities and equipment, develop the NetPlus® brand and expand the workforce for the next growth stage, as well as continue to develop solutions to secure the future of our oceans by reducing one of the most harmful forms of ocean pollution – discarded fishing nets.

“Bureo is a model of a purpose-led business generating value by transforming end-of-life plastic waste,” notes investor Chris Gorrell Barnes, founding partner of UK based Ocean 14 Capital. “By scaling up the company’s collection activities, the magnitude of its impact becomes increasingly apparent. By materially reducing the volume of fishing nets that would otherwise find their way into our oceans or be incinerated, Bureo has a pivotal role in global environmental efforts.”

Since launching in 2013, Bureo has scaled its supply of its rHDPE & rNylon under its trademarked NetPlus® brand name from approx. 10 tonnes in 2014, to 1,130 tonnes in 2022 and is expecting over 1,500 tonnes for 2023.

“We are betting that companies and consumers will continue to move away from virgin plastics and instead focus on adopting non-extractive raw materials with lower impact production” says Bureo co-founder David Stover. “We know our work has just begun, and we feel a responsibility to bring our solution for discarded nets and expand positive impacts to more coastal communities around the world.”

Taking action to preserve our oceans was a major talking point at the 2023 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland. A dedicated session featuring Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s community of ocean leaders flagged that a sustainable blue economy represents no less than “the future of human security” and is critical for intergenerational justice.

Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 14: Life Below Water as a guiding principle, Ocean 14 Capital is searching for entrepreneurs and businesses with big ideas around aquaculture and alternative proteins, reducing plastic waste pollution, protecting ecosystems and marine flora, and ending overfishing.

The €167 million fund’s mission is to supercharge the blue economy, which is expected to be worth $3 trillion by 2030, according to the OECD. At the same time, it will provide jobs to 40 million people.

Ocean 14 Capital Limited is an appointed representative of G10 Capital Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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About Ocean 14 Capital Fund I SCSp

Ocean 14 Capital Fund I SCSp (“Ocean 14 Capital Fund” or the “Fund”) is an impact fund now targeting €200 million and focused on driving a sustainable and regenerative blue economy. The fund’s investment adviser, Ocean 14 Capital Ltd, has a team who combine more than 65 years of investment, impact, and industry experience. The investment adviser’s team and advisers are considered to be some of the world’s most renowned scientists and marine biologists, and it is considered that they have unparalleled access to proprietary deal flow and sector knowledge. www.ocean14capital.com

MEDIA CONTACTS

Ocean 14 Capital:

Tara O’Driscoll, CEO, The Prophets – tara@theprophets.co.uk / +44 07791 091 909

Bureo:

Jessica Davis, Wilder PR
jessica@wilderpr.com