{"id":28156,"date":"2023-10-04T11:25:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T11:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/machinery.world\/?p=28156"},"modified":"2023-10-04T11:25:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T11:25:02","slug":"tackling-the-scourge-of-ocean-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/machinery.world\/index.php\/2023\/10\/04\/tackling-the-scourge-of-ocean-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling the scourge of ocean plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rising wave of data shows just how serious ocean plastic pollution has become. igus is minimising waste plastic and helping remove plastic directly from the ocean<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a manufacturer of plastic engineering components, igus takes marine pollution very seriously and is engaged in several programmes to reduce plastic pollution.<\/p>\n

More than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are estimated to be floating in the world\u2019s oceans1<\/sup>, according to scientists at the 5 Gyres Institute.\u00a0 This is rate increase of more than tenfold since 2005, when the figure was 16 trillion pieces1<\/sup>.\u00a0 To put this in context, if every single person in the world \u2013 8.1 billion people \u2013 threw a piece of plastic into the sea every day, starting now, it would take almost 60 years to reach the current level.\u00a0This is a staggering amount, and societies cannot continue discarding plastic waste into the ocean.<\/p>\n

Providing more evidence to support these arresting numbers, the Breaking the Plastic Wave report in 2020, published by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Systemiq with the support of University of Oxford, University of Leeds and others, shows four trajectories for microplastic leakage from now to 20402<\/sup>. Under the System Change<\/em> scenario, the good news is that by 2050 \u201conly 5 trillion tonnes\u201d of microplastic will be present in the oceans. But under the do-nothing, Business As Usual scenario, with little or no intervention, this number balloons to a terrifying 28 trillion tonnes of microplastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cchainge\u201d program and others aim to minimise plastic waste<\/strong><\/p>\n

All igus plastics are designed for long life, none are designed as single-use plastic (SUP) disposable components, so it is extremely unlikely that igus products make up part of this ocean waste \u2013 if so, it will form a tiny proportion compared with the SUPs.\u00a0Also, when an igus part reaches the end of its life, there are end-of-life solutions arrange by igus to minimise waste.\u00a0 These are easy solutions for users.\u00a0 The igus \u201cchainge\u201d program allows any igus or third-party plastic e-chain to be returned to igus, where the material is regranulated and reused.\u00a0 Chain donors receive a voucher based on the weight of the chain that can be redeemed towards new igus products.<\/p>\n

Cable jackets can now be recycled<\/strong><\/p>\n

A second igus program to help reduce ocean-bound plastics is the cable recycling program.\u00a0Like the chainge program for e-chains, customers can return cables to igus UK that are then completely recycled.\u00a0Typically, cable recycling retrieves the inner metal cables, while the plastic outer jacket is discarded.\u00a0 With this igus program, the plastic jacket is separated from the metal cores and both are recycled to be used for future production.\u00a0 The reclaimed metal is sold into the open market, and any profit used to plant trees, working with the Woodland Trust.<\/p>\n

And that\u2018s not all:<\/p>\n