From sargassum to Sandals: Island Nations Lead the Charge in Innovative Ocean Cleanup
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – While global headlines often focus on the overwhelming scale of plastic pollution and sargassum blooms choking coastlines, a wave of ingenuity is rising from island nations facing the brunt of the crisis. From Barbados to Puerto Rico, Chile, and Bali, communities are transforming waste – from seaweed and rum distillery byproducts to discarded tires and ghost fishing nets – into valuable resources, offering a beacon of hope in the fight to save our oceans.
The problem is immense. Islands, lacking the landmass for extensive landfills, are particularly vulnerable to the influx of global marine debris. But necessity,as one observer noted,is proving to be the “best catalyst for change.”
In Barbados, Britney McKenzie has pioneered a method to process the frequently enough-nuisance sargassum seaweed. Her solution? Mixing it with manure and wastewater from local rum distilleries and allowing it to ferment, creating biogas – a crucial energy source on an island where fuel costs are high. This innovative approach turns a problem into a potential power source, mirroring the island’s famed Rum Punch in its resourceful combination of local ingredients.
Further north, in Puerto Rico, san Francisco-based biomaterials company sway is collaborating with local agencies, Invest Puerto Rico and Newlab, to build a thorough sargassum processing pipeline. The project aims to harvest the seaweed before it reaches shore, extracting valuable polymers to create new materials. Puerto Rico also faces a significant tire disposal issue - a staggering 18,000 tires are discarded daily – and may draw inspiration from companies like IndoSole, a Bali-based footwear company successfully converting discarded tires into sandals.
these initiatives aren’t limited to seaweed and tires. In Chile, local surfers are actively mining landfills for recyclable materials and valuable metals, sparking a grassroots movement for environmental duty.Fishermen are also contributing, retrieving “ghost nets” - abandoned fishing gear – from the ocean. These nets are then recycled into NetPlus, a product developed through a partnership between Chilean fishermen and California surfers at Bureo.
The developments extend beyond these examples. Mexico and Brazil, despite their size and resources, are also developing homegrown solutions to combat plastic pollution, often with limited support from wealthier nations or the petrochemical industry largely responsible for the problem.
While media coverage often emphasizes the bleak outlook, these examples demonstrate a surge of “positive developments and radical innovation happening at scale throughout the world.” These island-led solutions offer a powerful reminder that even in the face of overwhelming challenges, human ingenuity and a commitment to sustainability can pave the way for a cleaner, healthier ocean.
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