March 31, 2023

AKVA develops first net pen made entirely from recycled plastics

Norwegian aquaculture supplier AKVA has developed the first net pen for fish farms made entirely from recycled plastics, two years after the company developed aquaculture walkways from recycled plastic and removed Styrofoam from their net pens, The Fish Site reported.

The company has been working together with groups such as Plasto and Oceanize to look into how recycled plastics can be used in aquaculture systems.

Nova Sea began collecting discarded plastic pens in February 2023 and transporting them to a collection point on land. Oceanize dismantled the pens and delivered them to Rrovik for granulation. The granulate was sent to Plasto for staple production, and then to the AKVA group's facility in Mo I Rana for pipe production.

AKVA intends to assemble and deploy a full net pen made of recycled plastic with a customer.

Joran Strand, an engineer and sales manager for AKVA, said using recycled plastic in the production of pens means they are able to reuse discarded pens while reducing CO2 emissions from pen production by two-thirds.

Dag Ove Antonsen, an engineer for the AKVA group, said tests show that recycled plastic clamps provide good strength, even better than new material clamps. Pipes extruded from recycled material have high strength and flexibility and are simple to manufacture.

-      The Fish Site