Translations

NET-WORKS recycles discarded fishing nets into carpet tiles

4. Environment

Green design

Sector Industry

Year 2016

Country United States

Transmitter

Context

Net-Works was born from a collaboration between global carpet tile manufacturer Interface, Inc. and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It tackles the growing environmental problem of discarded fishing nets in some of the world’s poorest coastal communities.

Fishing nets are made from the same material that is used to make carpet yarn and can persist for centuries. The Danajon Bank is one of only six double-barrier reefs in the world, and discarded nets take a huge toll on the environment and marine life there. Fishing nets are also one of the most abundant sources of recyclable nylon in the world, however. The estimated length of nets discarded each year in this area, if laid out end to end, is 400 times the length of Danajon Bank, equivalent to 1.5 times the world’s circumference.

This project helps to ensure that end-of-life nets are no longer discarded in marine and freshwater ecosystems, but become an additional source of revenue for Philippine residents.

Objectives

Net-Works is the first step in creating a truly restorative loop in carpet tile production, cleaning up oceans and beaches while also creating financial opportunities for some of the poorest people in the world. Over 660 million people on the planet depend upon the oceans to support their livelihood. But year after year, pollution in our waters and beaches gets worse.

The Net-Works program is not just about beach cleanup, though that is a vital piece. Net-Works is also helping the villagers establish new financial opportunities by providing an additional income stream as well as supporting the creation of community banking.

APPROACH

The expansion of the Net-Works program, have only been possible because a tightly interwoven human network, spread around the globe, worked together to build something new. Interface’s exclusive product designer, David Oakey, owner of David Oakey Designs, along with co-innovators from around the globe, has brought forth all of the ingredients necessary for true synchronistic design – creating a beautiful product line while simultaneously empowering a community and restoring our oceans and seas.

The Net-Works team has established a supply chain for discarded fishing nets from artisanal fishing communities in developing countries in such a way that generates environmental and social benefits within these fishing communities.

Collection hubs have now been set up on the Danajon Bank and the nearby Bantayan Islands, in the central Philippines. The team are currently setting up a new collection hub in Northern Iloilo in the central Philippines, and another in the Lake Ossa region in Cameroon, Central Africa. The team is always scoping new locations and partners to help grow the program.

More than 100 tons of discarded nets have been collected to date – enough to stretch more than two times around the world.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

24 communities with over 4,000 people benefiting from an alternative income

Benefits

Net-Works enables fishing communities in developing countries to sell waste fishing nets into a global supply chain; an opportunity that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Interface receives a fully recycled source of nylon for carpet tile production, and the local community receives an additional source of income and long-term incentives to protect their coasts and waters.