Dsolve: preventing plastic litter from the marine environment
Plastic waste is a top environmental priority. Unfortunately, most of the marine litter found in Norwegian waters comes from the aquaculture and fishing industries. Researchers are currently working with these industries and others to find solutions to the problems caused by plastics.
Roger B Larsen // The Arctic University of Norway
According to reports from the Norwegian Environment Agency (Norwegian Environment Agency), a lot of plastic waste resulting from fishing activities ends as beach waste. However, this only accounts for 10% of the total volume. Many huge islands of waste drift around in the waters, and a large portion of them ends up on seabeds. Ghost fishing, where marine life is at risk due to lost fishing gear, is an unintentional cause of marine death. Norwegian fisheries alone suffer from an annual loss in fishing gear that leads to a loss of earnings of billions of Norwegian Kroner. What if there were biodegradable alternatives for the plastics in use today, reducing or eliminating ghost-fishing? Dsolve is the answer.
Research-based innovation
Dsolve, a centre for innovation-based research, is managed by UiT The Arctic University of Norway. It is a partnership among fourteen partners from the fishing, aquaculture, and equipment suppliers industries. There are also five national research institutions and three international institutions. The centre’s goal is to develop technologies and innovative products that are environmentally friendly, promote environmental management, and encourage innovations that make plastic-based value chains more sustainable and resource-efficient. This will reduce carbon footprints and be in line with UN climate, energy, and sustainable development goals.
No quick fix
Our hypothesis is that plastic marine litter from aquaculture and fishing can be reduced by replacing traditional plastics with biodegradable plastics. There is no quick fix. It will take time to develop new products and document their impact on fisheries. The new materials should be biodegradable in the marine environment and be perceived by the users as equally efficient and usable as petroleum-based materials. It is unknown how much it will cost for ghost fishing to be eliminated and how to prevent micro- and macroplastics from escaping into marine environments. However, we must not ignore this important environmental problem.
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Designing new base materials
Dsolve was created in November 2020. The Centre was officially launched on the 28th April 2021. The Centre is expected to carry out work packages that deal with the development of biodegradable basic materials, the degradation experiments in controlled environment, and practical use in fishing. These work packages and others were delayed due to the pandemic. However, work began at the laboratories to test and analyse different biodegradable substances. Our international partners place a strong emphasis on the development of new basic materials for the fishing industry. Fishing experiments were conducted in Denmark and Norway on a commercial scale during 2021 using biodegradable nets provided by one of our foreign partners. In conventional longlines and active fishing gear, such as bottom trawls, demersal seine, new biodegradable and well known bio-based material (natural fibres), were tested.
Our ultimate goal is to share our results with fishermen and the suppliers industry in order to encourage them to adopt biodegradable material.
Published results will be posted to Dsolves websites regularly and communicated via our LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.
DSolve
DSolve, a research-based innovation center for the development and production of biodegradable polymers for aquaculture and fishing, is called DSolve.
The Centre’s vision aims to reduce plastic marine litter and other associated problems. Plastic litter can be in the form of microplastics or small plastic particles. Ghost fishing can be caused by lost fishing equipment. This leads to a reduction in fish stocks and future losses in the fishing industry. Norway should be a leader in the development, research and use of smart biodegradable material. This will allow us manage the challenges presented by plastic-based materials in fishing operations worldwide.
Research-based innovation centres place education at the forefront of their efforts. Dsolve intends to train eight PhD students, four postdoctoral fellows as well as many MSc candidates. Industry players will be able easier to adopt biodegradable material if these results are distributed.
The logo and Dsolve name contain multiple elements. Dsolve, which is pronounced dissolve, refers to our vision of creating new materials that can be biodegradable in marine environments. This is illustrated by the D being broken down and the loose bits making up the l in Dsolve. The word solve refers to our determination to solve a major environmental problem, and ensure that Norwegian industry is at the forefront of innovation.
