Recovered seaside plastic is an alternative to virgin plastic. Tracking it through blockchain technology can prevent its dispersion by promoting recycling
How to Keep Sea Blue
Plastic material turns into a problem when it comes in contact with natural ecosystems. The prerogatives of Keep Sea Blue’s initiative is to prevent this potential encounter from happening. The organization, founded in 2020, aims to recover plastics on the coastal area — avoiding them from contaminating the sea. Currently the operation is focused on the Mediterranean Sea. Keep Sea Blue was founded in Greece as a result of their direct experience of plastic pollution.
«Our mission is to keep plastic away from the Mediterranean Sea and within the resource loop. Plastic is valuable, we don’t want it to be wasted, we don’t want it to leak into the environment, we want to make sure that it remains in business», Maria Karka, Operations Manager at Keep Sea Blue, states. Plastic does not represent an environment-friendly material, but this recovery process allows it to be transformed into Recovered Seaside Plastic.
An additional goal of the organization is to put recycled plastic back into the production process through a circular manufacturing model. The certification program, along with a Europe-wide network of partners and the development of blockchain technology, have enabled growth in the use of this process.
The value of closing the plastic cycle
Beyond recycling, consumers who are aware of plastic-related issues receive little transparency about their waste dumping. Plastic production is an action to be limited, it is necessary to have a conscious understanding of where and how it ends its life cycle.
Keep Sea Blue aims to maintain control over the entire life of the material, to enable its reuse and prevent its dispersion into the marine environment. The organization wants to ensure full transparency and traceability across the plastics value chain along with increased supply chain efficiencies for optimum plastics recovery and reuse.
«We have plastics that have already been produced and a small fraction of it has been recycled. Instead of producing more plastic, with Keep Sea Blue we make sure the material does not end up in landfills or is incinerated, but can be reused», Karka specifies.
The materials collected
Karka comments on the material collection, stating that some of the plastic is PET and comes from bottles deposited on the coasts. Other materials recovered are SDP, like that used for shampoo containers, and each is processed in separate ways. The recovery procedure and the subsequent sorting step come first, in order not to fall back into the problem of mixed material production.
A part of the abandoned plastic can be blamed on packaging used on a regular basis. The solution is to create less harmful packaging that contains as little plastic as possible, eliminate it completely or make it easily recyclable. If the product is made from mixed plastic it causes complications at the end of the life cycle.
Recovered Seaside Plastic
Plastic recovered within ten kilometers from the coastline is recycled and processed into a raw material. The guarantee of the use of this resource is provided by the certification of Recovered Seaside Plastic. The material recovered from the at-risk coastal areas of the Mediterranean is returned to a production loop through this process. Its use is in packaging manufacturing and avoids the generation of virgin plastic.
The energy consumption and the production footprint is eliminated, while trying to circumscribe the harmfulness of plastic use. The consumer, who is now conscious about preserving the environment, can choose alternatives that reduce waste and the overproduction of new material. There is a possibility for several stakeholders to source this plastic at a local level. «Recovered Seaside Plastic is available in HDPE (High-density polyethylene), LDPE (Low-density polyethylene), and PET (Polyethylene terephthalate)» is available.
The certification program
Regarding the use of Recovered Seaside Plastic, Keep Sea Blue promotes a pathway to certification. The organization’s validation process is focused on three points. Certifications can refer to the recycled raw material obtained from the Mediterranean’s endangered coastal areas. There is also the certification of new products manufactured through Recovered Seaside Plastic.
The third authentication concerns the external organizations that contribute to the success of the circular plastic development. These are collectors, recyclers, manufacturers and brand owners involved in the process. To obtain the certification, the stakeholders must go through an audit in front of the organization.
Implemented traceability through blockchain technology
«For stakeholders to work together, the materials need to be traceable», says Karka. Through the certification of the entities involved within the internal cycle of recovery and readmission into plastic production, it is possible to ensure transparency of the pathway.
Keep Sea Blue has designed a blockchain platform capable of tracking the lifecycle of Recovered Seaside Plastic®. Stakeholders can access the platform after certification has taken place. Each step is recorded on a direct basis and subsequent users of the plastic can access it. This system creates a collaboration network in closing the material life cycle. Brands that use Recovered Seaside Plastic in the manufacturing of their products can also access this information.
Process verification through blockchain
The four main players; collectors, recyclers, manufacturers, and brand owners, need to collaborate and trust one another. In addition to being a transparent and digital system, the system guarantees security for the stakeholders. The validity is given by the existence of Blockchain technology entrusted to the Oracle system. Oracle developed a cloud infrastructure technology, and the online platform is custom made to be accessed by all stakeholders. This allows data to be permanently recorded, without the possibility of modification and guarantees sharing among different departments.
Significant changes in plastics management
«Plastic has countless applications, but it has become a problem because of irresponsible consumption, disposal and poor waste management practices», Karka points out. Saving the sea and oceans from plastic leakage is an added value compared to the management of this material. This meets with the need for reuse and the implementation of a circular economy due to the possibility of recycling the material. At this stage it seems pointless to be demonizing plastic, rather it is necessary to try to limit the harm of its production and subsequent use.
Keep Sea Blue
Keep Sea Blue is an organization established in 2020 with the goal of operating in the Mediterranean Sea. Their work focuses on preventing plastic from entering the oceans and creating a recycled alternative to virgin plastic in a circular perspective.
