Richmond Plant to Recycle Ocean Plastic Waste Announced Official Opening

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Non-profit organization Ocean Legacy Foundation announced official opening of the new facility at Steveston Harbour in Richmond to process ocean plastic waste.

The plant aims to produce nearly half a million tonnes of pellets every year by processing tonnes of plastic waste collected from oceans. The pellets thus produced will be used to create new plastic materials and other materials such as furniture and clothing.

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The non-profit has been collecting ocean plastic debris over the past five-year period. The expeditions conducted so far have resulted in collection of approximately 85,000 kilograms of plastic waste from shorelines in British Columbia (B.C). The collected waste includes ropes, nets, baskets, plastic bottles, abandoned boats, Styrofoam and other trash. According to estimates, up to 13 million tonnes of plastic debris ends up in world’s oceans every year, with only a small percentage collected for recycling.

Apart from processing plastic waste, the non-profit also targets to raise awareness about plastic waste among consumers, provide necessary support in enhancing infrastructure facilities and advocate policies to reduce generation of plastic waste.

It must be noted that various efforts funded by the B.C. province throughout this year have resulted in removal of approximately 425 tonnes of marine debris and trash from B.C. shorelines.