Chemical recycling enables resource utilization of waste fishing nets

Abstract

Marine plastic pollution is an important issue in global ecological governance. Waste fishing nets are one of the main sources of marine plastic pollution and pose multiple threats to marine ecosystems owing to their poor degradability. In recent years, initial results have been achieved in the recovery of waste fishing nets; however, there are significant problems with the end-of-life disposal process. Current mainstream mechanical recycling methods can only achieve downcycling and cannot fundamentally solve the resource utilization dilemma of waste fishing nets from marine fisheries. This perspective proposes that the optimal path for the high-value and closed-loop resource utilization of waste fishing nets is to first separate mixed plastics through pretreatment and sorting, and then implement directional chemical recycling for single materials such as polyamide 6 (PA6), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP). This method provides a solution for developing a circular marine economy.