project risacca recycles fishing nets into pieces of ethical fashion & sustainable design

RISACCA PROJECT, PROMOTING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR RECYLING WASTE FROM THE FISHING INDUSTRY

first discovered in 1998, the great pacific garbage patch is an artificial plastic island in the atlantic ocean measuring almost three times the size of france. in 2018, a study found that synthetic fishing nets made up nearly half of its mass due to the currents and the increased fishing activity in the atlantic ocean.

created by carlo roccafiorita, cristiano pesca and federica ditta, risacca is a project that promotes innovative solutions for recycling waste from the fishing industry, particularly fishing nets. the project sees its origins in one of italy’s most important fishing centers — mazara del vallo in sicily. here, at least ten tons of fishing nets are produced every year.

NETS ARE RECYCLED EXCLUSIVELY FROM MAZARA DEL VALLO, A TOWN IN ITALY

risacca is a circular economy project that recycles fishing nets exclusively from mazara del vallo and turns them into pieces of ethical fashion and sustainable design. the nets are mainly made of plastic material (nylon, HDPE), which can easily find a second life if introduced into a new process of reuse and recycling. in fact, they can be reused as fabric, or shredded and transformed into other objects through processes of melting, pressing, printing. with a ton of mesh you can get 200 chairs, 2000 covers, 10000 buttons, and many other objects that are part of our daily lives.

‘today, more than ever, we must be resilient,’ says carlo roccafiorita. ‘by introducing innovation we can find solutions that can generate jobs and protect the environment. with risacca, we have designed a process that will transform fishing nets into resources, generating social impact.’

‘every year, in mazara more than 10 tons of fishing nets are produced, whose disposal costs weigh on the economies of fishermen, sometimes forced to resort to illegal disposal methods,’ federica ditta, designer continues.

risacca is currently seeking funding to create a laboratory where they will put machinery for recycling nets (extruder, shredder, sheetpress and 3D printer). there they’re going to be able to obtain products at different scales — from the pen to street furniture, recovering more and more plastic, generating more and more impact.