5 plastic recycling projects for this summer!

Summer has always been the holiday season par excellence. The perfect time to take a break from work and the stress of everyday life. Yet, unfortunately, it’s also the period during which we take less care of the environment. Many times, holiday destinations turn – indeed – open-air rubbish tips because of disrespectful and unscrupulous people. In particular, beaches and seas, where plastic waste is more easily abandoned – sadly.

Since the beginning of our Are you R project, we have been building much on education and awareness raising, for we strongly believe in the importance of conveying correct information and showing the actual results from plastic material recycling, as long as it is not indiscriminately and disrespectfully abandoned, but, instead, properly disposed.

This article is about some of the latest recycling projects directly resulting from plastic waste recovery – in the name of the hottest season of the year!

Beach Furniture is going Green – in the name of Recycling!

It’s called The Elements and is a project created by The New Raw – a Dutch firm collecting plastic waste from the sea to make outdoor furniture.

It’s a technology using 3D printing to turn plastic waste into functional and aesthetic solutions that can be perfectly used on a beach. Among their furniture items – all strictly available in natural colours evoking the marine landscape, ergonomically-shaped, and beautifully designed – you will find sun beds, bathing-huts and even boardwalks to easily reach the sea.

Clothing raising awareness about Fishing for litter

Tons of plastic polluting the oceans can be used to obtain high-tech materials to make beach clothing.

That’s what Ogyre – a start-up that makes swimwear by using recycled yarn from ocean plastic waste – is all about.

Best part is, each piece of clothing can be again recycled at their end-of-life, creating a virtuous circularity pattern. As many as 300 kilograms of plastic waste between Cesenatico and Porto Garibaldi in Italy have been collected in only one month, and even more ports and fishing vessels will be involved by the end of the year. The aim is to make Fishing for litter – that is, marine litter recovery and recycling in the name of circular economy – an established reality. It has to be within the reach of everyone, citizens and consumers, ‘from the sea for the sea’.

Waste on the beach turning into artwork with #plasticfishing

We need everyone’s help to save the sea. Our Are you R Team always said that. That’s why every initiative aiming at collecting waste is important – especially during summer. That’s exactly Plastic Fishing’s goal – a beach cleanup that gives free rein to your creativity and is already trending on social media all over the world!

How it works:

  • Collect plastic waste you will (sadly) find on the beach or in the sea because of tourists, who are very far from being respectful when it comes to protecting the environment.
  • Put all plastic waste pieces together to create a fish.
  • Take a picture of your ‘recycled work of art’ and post it on Instagram. Include the hashtag #plasticfishing – which has already been used for thousands of posts.
  • Collect your waste and dispose it according to the separate collection. Follow all relevant municipality instructions.

It’s not only an initiative allowing to recover a huge quantity of plastic waste from the sea, but also a funny game for all children that can then learn the importance of respecting the environment through small but precious daily actions.

Sustainable and inclusive swimwear

Not only eco-friendly, but also ‘inclusive’ – that’s the clothing designed and made by Laura Brioschi, body positive icon and spokeswoman. All pieces of her collection are made of Econyl, which is a woven fabric obtained from plastic collected from the sea. The important objective of her 100%-made-in-Italy production is to add value to each single body by wearing clothes that make everybody feel comfortable in their own skin. That’s a great message, which is not only aimed at respecting the environment, but also our bodies.

Let’s take action with Plastic Oceans!

Praiseworthy – that’s the word we can use to describe what Plastic Oceans, a non-profit association established in the U.S. and today also active at European level, has been doing for several years. Their goal is to ‘act locally to make a global change’, also through important plastic waste collection initiatives, essential projects to raise awareness and inspire consumers all over the world, as well as companies and public policies.

On their website, you can always find several scheduled initiatives in various international areas, such as webinars on this topic and beach clean-up events.

Now, enjoy your summer – wherever you are. And please, don’t forget to dispose your rubbish properly!