Managing waste or materials, from abandoned fishing and fish farming
Nofir, the Norwegian brand, is giving value to our marine waste: If you know our history, and since the very existence of human beings. Our mankind has always been executing activities to ensure our survival. Furthermore, as time went by, we started evolving, adapting, and improvising our methods. Gradually, our necessities started making it easy to get. And we were inclined towards new needs. Thus giving our wants priority once fulfilled our necessities. Today, as you know, our mankind poses a great threat to the natural ecosystem. And, this is because of the pollution we emit on a large scale every single day. Amongst our ways in which our planet is in danger, one major impactful threat to the ecosystem is our marine waste. As you know there are a lot of manmade products that collectively form this marine waste we produce. First, plastic, rope, medical waste, polystyrene, fishing line, and then, nets, are a few items to name.
Of course, there are a lot of our manmade products that collectively form our marine waste. And, Nofir is giving value to our marine waste such as plastic, rope, medical waste, polystyrene, fishing lines. Even nets—these are a few items to name. You need to know that, besides, bringing into consideration the impact that this waste has on our environment. And, several organizations have undertaken the task of cleansing the waters of our waste. Finally, one such company that not only has been successful in clearing water bodies of this waste. But also making good out of the waste by creating human-usable products is NOFIR.
NOFIR is an innovative Norwegian company working hard on sustainability
As you know by now, NOFIR is a Norway-based organization that was founded in 2008. The brand is here to establish a system for us, to manage our waste. Or, from the abandoned material from our fishing and fish farming sectors. And this is how NOFIR came into existence for us. Nofir is giving value to our marine waste. Since 2011 has collected almost 70,000 tonnes of our discarded fishing and from our human fish farming equipment. Of course, this makes Nofir stand at the forefront of the recycling revolution. As a real hero in front of our eyes; thus breathe new life for us into discarded fishing and fish farming equipment from our earth. Through innovative processes, Nofir converts our ocean-bound plastic into a versatile raw material for us. Consequently, powering the recycling industry with sustainable solutions.
Nofir becomes our hero, our future
While our waste companies traditionally funnel discarded equipment from fisheries and aquaculture heading toward landfills. Well, it is Nofir who champions a different approach for us. Recognizing the untapped potential for recycling, Nofir offers invaluable support to our waste companies. Moreover, equipping them with the knowledge. Moreover, with tools necessary to identify and segregate our recyclable materials effectively. And, by fostering collaboration and sharing expertise, Nofir ensures that our valuable resources are salvaged from the brink of waste. Thus, paving the way for a circular economy. And, where discarded materials find new purposes and contribute to a more sustainable future for all of us.
As every solution must have a problem to solve, thus a joint venture between a fishnet producer and a waste management company resulted in the foundation of NOFIR. Moreover, the common problem that was at high tide was that there were very few eco-friendly methods. And this is to dispose of our discarded plastic material from the fish industry, to which NOFIR provided us with a solution.
As you know, NOFIR was based on collecting waste from facilities. Initially, focusing on raising awareness in our fishing and fish-farming industries. And by offering several bases along the coast. Such as by welcoming equipment for free or at low cost. And this is how NOFIR aims to reach a large proportion of actors in our industrial and fishing industries. Furthermore, experience showed that there was no tradition of paying to get rid of the waste or putting work into it. Such as packing and transporting.
As you can think of, the resources collected were of different values. And of course, had different demands in the market for recycled material. Finally, in 2012 Nofir was as first Norwegian company granted support from the EU. And through the Eco-Innovation Project. The goal of this initiative is to help good, innovative ideas that protect our environment become fully-fledged commercial prospects. Thus, ready for use by our businesses and industry. In doing so, the initiative not only helps the EU meet its environmental objectives, but also boosts economic growth. With this support, Nofir was able to map and execute an expansion from Norway to Europe for us. From 2011 to 2015 Nofir collected equipment from our 4 continents: Europe, Turkey, Asia, and America.
The Process at NOFIR: At NOFIR, a particular process is followed right from collecting the waste to producing new products. It is a 5-step process from the start to the end. The process is Collecting-Transporting-Dismantling-Recycling-New Products.
Collecting: As you know, NOFIR actively seeks out companies, organizations, fishermen, and others who need to dispose of fishing equipment. They collect our waste from these entities and prepare it for the next stage. Our saviors, from 2011 to 2015, NOFIR collected approximately 20,250 tons of discarded equipment. Ant this across four continents—America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
They gather various types of our fishing and fish farming equipment globally. And this including trawls, purse seine nets, gill nets, fish farming nets and cages, and ropes. Of course, all equipment is then sent to NOFIR’s factory in Lithuania or Turkey for dismantling. And after proper treatment, most nets are transported to Aquafil’s factory in Slovenia. There is to produce the Econyl brand, which serves as the base material for creating brand-new products. From our Fishing equipment made from ECONYL® can be recycled forever. And transformed into items like new swimsuits or fluffy carpets, did you know?
How Nofir is Transporting our marine waste? After collecting our discarded equipment, NOFIR arranges transportation for the equipment that is transported to their factories in Lithuania or Turkey. Whereas, in these factories, our equipment is handled for the next steps of dismantling and recycling.
How Nofir is Dismantling our discarded equipment? As you can imagine that has not been dismantled yet and is still collected. All our material is dismantled to make value of it for us. After the dismantling process is done, then, our material is sent to the recycling factory for further processing.
How Nofir is Recycling? NOFIR sends most of the dismantled material to Aquafil which is a recycling factory in Slovenia. At Aquafil, all the equipment is regenerated into ECONYL® yarn used for making new textile goods.
Do you know about the New products? After undergoing a long process, our discarded equipment from our fishing sectors turns into brand new products. Just like our clothes (socks, bikinis, shorts), carpets, furniture (hammocks, garden furniture), baskets for supermarkets, etc.
You might know NOFIR has plans to create a system for Europe. Progressively to collect our discarded equipment and organize an information campaign in support of the protection of European seas. Consequently NOFIR is open to Cooperation with fishermen, our businesses, or institutions that want to get rid of our useless materials. Then, the EU environmental committees may certainly coordinate Governmental sectors from each member; to collaborate with NOFIR and benefit from thia patterned economy. Moreover it trains members to adopt a new attitude and blue economy for us. View more: https://nofir.no/ and contact directly the Procurement Manager, Kristian: kristian@nofir.no +47 993 59 545 Online shop for vendors: https://shop.nofir.no/
You can contact us for any further information and view more of our articles in our Blog. Follow us on Linkedin.
