Ghost Nylon: A Fabric with a Purpose
Seth Jefson
The oceans are vast. We all know this. But are they vast enough to handle the huge amounts of waste that humans dump into them annually? Not quite. Today, human impact is more apparent than ever in our oceans as the accumulation of waste increases every year. Said waste is slowly suffocating marine life and irreparably changing the landscape of our oceans.
“It is estimated that 6.4 million tons of fishing gear are lost in the oceans annually.₁”
This gear (specifically fishing nets) is infamously referred to as “ghost nets”. That 6.4 million tons makes up about ten percent of human-made pollutants in our oceans, and it takes a huge toll on marine life. Threats posed by fishing nets include loss of movement, lacerations, and permanent entanglement for the unfortunate creatures that get caught in them. Over 600 known species are affected by man-made marine waste₂. These numbers will surely increase as synthetic fishing nets become cheaper more durable, inevitably wandering through the waters and entangling wildlife for years to come. Not only that, but once the nets have been wreaking havoc for long enough they will start to disintegrate into microplastics. These microplastics are already found in every corner of our oceans and they fill the marine life with toxins. The encroachment of ghost nets into marine habitats has not been met without resistance, though.
An initiative to curb this issue has been undertaken by many brave souls across the globe. Volunteers have retrieved ghost nets from the waters and disposed of them properly. Others, specifically GhostNets® Australia, have promoted the retrieval of ghost nets and the creation of GhostNets® Art. This program has repurposed nets into useful domestic items and expressions of art that have been created to spread awareness of the problem. A similar task has recently been undertaken by PolyCore™.
Here at PolyCore™, we value those who prioritize the long-term health of our planet. To aid in the cleanup of pollutants in our oceans, we have created a sustainable fabric from retrieved ghost nets appropriately named ‘Ghost Nylon’. This sustainable 350D Nylon, coupled with the coating of our environmentally friendly water-based polyurethane, provides a fabric created from pollutants and repurposed for the sake of the environment. We are extremely proud of this product, and we hope that others join in on the efforts to give the oceans back to the marine life it once belonged.
Sources:
Macfayden, G., T. Huntington, and R. Cappell. 2009. Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear. UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies 185, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper 523, United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome.
2. Thompson, R.C., Gall and D. Bury. 2012. Impacts of marine debris on biodiversity: current status and potential solutions. Technical series Vol. 67. Convention on Biological Diversity. Montreal
3. Wilcox, C., Heathcote, G., Goldberg, J., Gunn, R., Peel, D. and Hardesty, B.D. (2015), Understanding the sources and effects of abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear on marine turtles in northern Australia. Conservation Biology, 29: 198-206. doi:10.1111/cobi.12355
