MBRC to turn plastic catch into feedstock

‘Every day around eight billion pieces of plastic enter the ocean. We don’t just want to clean up the mess, we want to recycle it,’ says Sofie Möhrle, community manager at MBRC The Ocean.

The world produces over 380 million tonnes in plastic waste per year. This is likely to double by 2034. ‘It’s time to take bold action,’ Möhrle tells Recycling International at the recent PRSE expo in Amsterdam. ‘We organise large-scale beach clean-ups all around the world almost every week and now want to help transform ocean plastics into valuable products.’

Big impact

MBRC, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, believes stepping forward as a seller of recycled plastics will help boost recycling. ‘Our team came to Amsterdam to launch this service and put ourselves on the map,’ Möhrle says.

‘We currently work with recycling partners across Europe, the US and Asia. Our  material is mostly processed in China, where we collect the bulk of our material.’ This includes black plastics.

MBRC focuses on merchandise such as shirts, bags, bracelets and bottles. ‘The shirts and bags are especially popular because companies print their own logos on them,’ Möhlre says. ‘We look forward to working with more recyclers as well as big plastics producers to maximise our impact.’

MBRC relies mostly on volunteers, who are in local chapters that initiate their own clean-up activities. ‘Some groups go out once a month, others every week or daily – whatever they have time for.’

Catch of the day

Clean-ups are successful thanks to 4 500 collectors supporting MBRC. ‘Engagement has really grown thanks to social media,’ Möhrle points out. ‘Our people report back to us what they have found so we can create a digital waste map.’

Sometimes, they come back with a good ‘catch’ of 100% plastic waste. Alternatively, they may come across contamination: paper, cardboard, debris and larger  junk.

‘We want to treat the material close to where we collect it,’ Möhrle says. ‘It’s tricky to do this in Africa, for example. There aren’t many plastics recyclers there yet. We aim to expand our network as the recycling sector evolves.’

Not scared of competition

Ridding the world of ocean plastics is a mission popularised by the likes of The Ocean Cleanup. Such players aren’t direct competitors, Möhrle insists. ‘Boyan Slat’s crew tackles plastic waste way further out at sea, and in rivers. It’s a different mission altogether, with a lot of cool, smart people working on it. Besides, there is plenty of plastic to keep all of us occupied!’

In that spirit, MBRC welcomes new clean-up campaigns and start-ups. ‘The scale of the waste problem is simply gigantic. For example, did you know the world uses over 500 billion plastic bags a year? That is 150 for each person on Earth.’

MBRC estimates the equivalent of one truck load of plastics is dumped  into our oceans every minute.