Boost for start up tackling problem of nylon nets

A company in Newlyn has been awarded nearly £50,000 by Cornwall Council's growth hub to start upscaling an idea that turns old nets into valuable products.

Fishy Filaments takes old nets and shreds them into tiny beads of plastic that can be used in injection moulding or made into a filament for 3D printers.

The company has been testing the process since it started in 2017 and now hopes to increase the scale of the project.

It believes about 200,000 tonnes of these nets are discarded or burned every year globally.

• Listen: Newlyn firm finds new uses for old fishing nets

Fishy Filaments CEO Ian Falconer said: "The nylon monofilament gill nets are used for the Cornish hake fisheries and every time they dip the nets in the ocean they gather what's know as an algal biofilm.

"The fish can see it and the skippers see their catch drop so it's no longer worth them going to sea".

The old nets are shredded several times then washed to make plastic pellets that can be sold to make a variety of products.

Anthony Hosken - skipper of fishing vessel Silver Dawn - is among those in Newlyn who have welcomed the idea.

"Fishy Filaments ticks an awful lot of boxes because it enables us to recycle all our waste net," he said.

The beads can be used for injection moulding and to make the filaments that feed 3D printers and sell for "up to £20 a kilo".

The company plans to use the grant money to buy an industrial scale shredder.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].