The UN’s Global Resource Outlook 2024 highlights that excessive resource exploitation stands as the primary driver behind the world’s environmental crises. Without more efficient and sustainable resource utilization, global natural resource extraction could increase by 60 percent by the year 2060. The Norwegian government has taken steps to promote a circular economy by proposing a new law for sustainable products and value chains. The new legislation sets requirements regarding circular value chains including reuse, life extension, repair and recycling in addition to reducing waste.
To increase the circular economy for the Norwegian plastic system, a report from Systemiq, Handelens Miljøfond and Mepex (2023) are pointing at better waste collection, product design, new delivery models, and recycling to achieve 77% circularity and reduce GHG emissions by 90% by 2040. Furthermore, they show that it is possible to reduce the need for virgin plastic material in the fisheries and aquaculture industry by 48%.
Scale Aquaculture, a technological supplier for the aquaculture industry, acknowledge the need to increase the circular economy for discarded plastic equipment in the fish farming industry. In the aquaculture industry there are about 192,000 tonnes of plastic in use in sea-based aquaculture in Norway. About 16,000-29,000 tonnes of this amount is plastic waste annually. In 2023 Scale Aquaculture together with seven partners, started the project “Circular solutions for the aquaculture industry” (SirkAQ). The aim of the SirkAQ project is to drive the transition from a linear to a circular economy in aquaculture industry by establishing and implementing sustainable circular value chains for plastics from discarded equipment. Through reuse, repair, life extension and the use of recycled material in new products, we seek to optimize the use of resources and reduce the environmental and climate footprint of aquaculture.
We are implementing new circular value chains w ith a special focus on the reuse and recycling of equipment from the pens . We will present the work that Scale Aquaculture is doing regards implementing circular value chains of discarded plastic equipment . We will give examples on possible technological solutions. Results from the ongoing project “SirkAQ” will be presented.
Acknowledgement
The project “SIRKAQ” is founded through the Norwegian Government “Green Platform Programme”, with funding from Norwegian Research Council, Innovation Norway and SIVA, i n addition to funding from the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund. The work in the project “SIRKAQ” is done in collaboration with the partners: Scale Aquaculture AS, Oceanize AS
Hallingplast AS, SinkabergHansen AS, OsloMet, Norner Research AS , Sintef Ocean AS and Future Materials.