Taking recycling seriously

Recycling has been part of the scenery at Vónin for many years, but this has taken on a new urgency in the last few years as this issue has become increasingly visible.

‘We have been getting more and more enquiries from our clients, who in turn are keen to assure their customers of their environmental credentials,’ said the company’s CFO Daniel Hákunsson Dam, who has an overview over recycling across Vónin’s various departments.

‘So this is something we are taking seriously.’

The background to Vónin’s recycling path goes back a long way. Trawl warps have been taken in for recycling for many years – either cut down and re-spliced for bridles, or are used as weights in the sinker tubes that keep aquaculture cages stable in the water, and the heavyweight warps that the larger pelagic vessels use are ideal for this.

Netting that reached the end of its useful life has also been shipped to recylcing companies in Europe, but in the past this was not as structured an operation as it has become today.

Some years ago there was an initiative in the Faroe Islands that brought together a group of companies to set goals for the future, and one of these was to recycle as much fishing and aquaculture gear as possible, and it was at this point that Vónin’s recycling strategy became more systematic. In 2022 this became a stated priority with a structured approach.

‘Historically, a lot of fishing gear was not recycled. It went to landfill or was burned, or disposed of in other ways, but that changed in 2022,’ he said.

In fact, Vónin has some impressive figures to show, with 3011 tonnes of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear processed for recycling during 2022 and 2024.

‘A large part of this was aquaculture nets that hadn’t been disposed of. We had held on to these, keeping them in storage while we looked for a suitable recycling route,’ he explained.

In the last few years Vónin has partnered with recycling specialists Nofir, Lithuanian company Polivektris, Plastix in Denmark to recycle conventional nylon and PE materials and local renovation companies such as IRF and Esani. The labour-intensive work of dismantling fishing and aquaculture gear is divided between the team at Vónin and staff at the receiving recycler, with materials sorted and separated to be routed to the next stage. Some challenges remain, and others have already been overcome.

He commented that alongside Vónin’s more structured approach to recycling, customers have also become increasingly aware of this and keen to make use of this option. This includes marking fishing gear with ID-numbered tags, ensuring it is traceable, and while this has been done for some time already with aquaculture systems and large pelagic gears, the plan is also to roll it out with demersal trawl gear.

‘We have a way to trace gear that’s produced here in the Faroes Islands, although imported fishing gear isn’t always marked, and it needs to be,’ he said.

‘This is something that’s not going to go away and the industry is going to have to adjust to it. So this is something that we at Vónin are taking seriously.’