Each year, an estimated 6.4m tons of useless fishing equipment is discarded or lost at sea, and over 100,000 marine mammals die from the harmful effects of plastic, fishing nets, and trash in the oceans. In an effort to combat the damage done to Greek environments Norwegian company Nofir A.S. is organizing an event to collect discarded material from fishing and fish farming (nets, ropes, fish farming cages, etc.) in Greece at the end of May.

Nofir’s activity in Greece will involve looking for companies, fishermen or fish farmers who want to dispose of their material. The company will be responsible for everything – from transport to paperwork. Most of the material will be dismantled and used for recycling.

“We organise the action in Greece to collect as much material as we can and give it to recycling,” said Tomas Sarnacinskas, procurement manager of Nofir. “From recycled fishing equipment you can make clothes, carpets, baskets for shops and much more. We are open for cooperation. If somebody contacts us, we will visit them immediately and take specific action.”

The company will also participate in the European Maritime Days conference in Athens on 28-29 May. The event will focus on ports and coasts as engines for Blue Growth, and Oistein Aleksandersen, CEO of Nofir, will give a speech on marine litter in Europe.

Nofir recycles discarded material from the fishing and fish farming industry throughout Europe. The company has been granted support from the European Union through the Eco Innovation project, which aims to decrease the amount of plastic waste in European seas by 12,600 tons and decrease CO2 emissions by 57,600 tons.