A Sea of Plastics and How One Organization Is Leading the Charge

Each year, 4.8 to 12.7 million metric ton[i] of plastic waste spill into the ocean, endangering marine life and destabilizing vital ecosystems. Stopping this crisis requires complex, global collaboration. As the impact of ocean plastics reaches critical levels, organizations like Ocean Plastics Recovery Project are stepping up to tackle this complex challenge. 

Kodiak, Alaska – On Kayak Island, off the south-central coast of Alaska, a team of researchers, students, and conservationists combs the shoreline. They find a message in a bottle, a rare discovery. But the bottle isn’t alone. It is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic, a reminder that even the remote reaches of the world are impacted by a growing plastics crisis. The team, led by Ocean Plastics Recovery Project (OPR) co-founders Andy Schroeder and Scott Farling, are conducting a clean up initiative dedicated to removing marine debris from the coastlines of the Gulf of Alaska.

Though badly water-damaged, the team manages to decipher enough of the note to trace it back to its sender. The message, written by a young girl in Washington, spent decades drifting on ocean currents before finally washing up on the shores of Alaska. Now in her forties, the sender is astonished to see it resurface.

“It was pretty cool to see our team come together to do all that sleuth work,” says Farling.

While this bottle finds its way back to its owner, what todo with the rest of the marine debris is the question that OPR is determined to answer.

The Mission

OPR, founded in 2018, takes a unique and multi-faceted approach to tackling marine plastic waste. Co-founder Andy Schroeder has been leading cleanup initiatives in the Gulf of Alaska since 2007. However, for OPR, the mission extends far beyond collection.

“Our dream is to build a recycling line that goes all the way from sorting through to a finished product,” states Farling, “with educational components built into all of that.”

To bring this vision to life, OPR is advancing recycling research by partnering with universities and industry leaders. These collaborations explore solutions such as mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, gasification, and pyrolysis. By transforming recovered plastics into raw materials, OPR wants to prove that cleanup efforts can be both environmentally impactful and financially viable.

Education is another key part of this initiative. Through internships, students gain hands-on experience in every stage of the process.

Storytelling is the final piece of OPR’s strategy. Filmmaker and OPR team member Max Romey documents the impact of marine debris, using powerful visuals to raise awareness and inspire change. By combining environmental action, education, and media, OPR is reshaping the way ocean plastic pollution is tackled.

The Growing Crisis of Ocean Plastics

4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year where they pose systemic threats. Ocean plastics entangle marine life and enter the food chain through ingestion by fish and other animals. Mismanaged plastic waste leaches toxic chemicals and emits greenhouse gases as it degrades. [ii] As plastics break down, they become significantly harder to remove, making swift cleanup efforts critical.

Unlike other debris, plastics do not biodegrade but instead break down into smaller fragments, becoming micro plastics and eventually nanoplastics.

“A five-gallon bucket sitting on a beach isn’t going to cause as many problems,” explains Farling. “But once it’s at the micro or nanoscale, it’s almost impossible to remove from the ocean, and that’s when the biggest impact happens.”

Micro and nanoplastics harm plankton and other foundational organisms in the ocean ecosystem. [iii] These microscopic plants and animals not only form the base of the marine food chain but also play a crucial role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, a process known as a biological carbon pump. Evidence indicates that nano plastics inhibit plankton’s ability to fulfill both roles.

With the looming threat of ocean plastics, organizations like OPR recognize the need to act fast, before the plastics break down to that scale.

‍Targeting High-Impact Cleanup Zones

Back in the Gulf of Alaska, the OPR team works strategically to maximize their efforts. To make the biggest impact, they target catchment areas, locations where ocean debris naturally accumulates. Andy Schroeder, longtime Alaska resident, has spent nearly two decades leading conservation efforts in the gulf. His knowledge of the region helps OPR pinpoint the most strategic sites for cleanup.

“Beaches do a great job at passive collection,” Schroeder shares.

While research on the behavior of plastic waste once it enters the ocean is still ongoing, it is estimated that nearly 80 percent of ocean plastic eventually washes up on beaches or remains in coastal waters.However, different plastics accumulate in different ways. Rigid plastics, like detergent bottles and crates, tend to wash up on windy beaches due to their buoyancy, while fishing nets and lines, which sit lower in the water, are more affected by tides and currents.

The Challenge of Recycling Ocean Plastics

As cleanup efforts expanded through the years, Schroeder faced a major obstacle, waste management companies were unwilling to take the plastic collected by his team. The long-term solution became apparent. To continue and expand their efforts, OPR needed to handle its own waste.

“From the start, we wanted to run our own recycling,” affirms Farling. “Due to the complexity of the waste stream, we benefit from having more control and improving our process.”

While most ocean clean-up initiatives focus solely on debris removal, OPR wants to take it a step further, figuring out how to recycle the plastics and create usable materials. But turning ocean plastics into raw material is no easy task.

Sorting is a critical step in recycling, but handling ocean plastics adds layers of complexity. These plastics come in a wide range of resin types and grades, and once collected, they vary in degradation levels dueto prolonged exposure to the elements. These factors determine which recycling methods will be effective. Additionally, ocean-recovered plastics can be heavily contaminated with sand, algae, and other debris, further complicating the recycling process.

“More than half of what we collect are nets and lines, and once they’ve hit the beaches, they’re pretty contaminated,” notes Farling. “That makes them hard to handle.”

To continue, OPR needed an industrial shredder capable of processing fishing gear and other plastics efficiently.

Partnering with SSI for an Industrial Shredder

OPR turned to Oregon-based shredder manufacturer Shredding Systems Inc. (SSI) for a solution. Scott Farling and his team worked with longtime SSI representative Dave Wilson to find the right solution.

“We have a variety of different technologies,” explains Wilson. “Our review process directs us to which is best for the customer.”

For OPR the QUAD® Q85 four-shaft shredder with a ram hopper was the ideal fit. The Quad® shredder reduces incoming plastics to a universal particle size making sorting, cleaning, and recycling more efficient and successful.

The Q85’s low-speed, high-torque design ensures it can handle bulky fishing lines while still being versatile enough for a wide range of plastics. The upper and lower cutters work to clean each other during operation, preventing fishing lines and nets from wrapping around the shafts, ac ommon problem with conventional shredders.

The machine also features SSI’s patented SmartDrive® technology, which automatically adjusts shaft speed and torque based on material difficulty. When processing heavy fishing lines, the system slows down to increase shredding force. For lighter plastics, it speeds up to improve throughput. Additionally, a built-in ram feeder ensures that light-weight bulky items like plastic drums are efficiently fed into the cutting zone.

For over four decades, SSI has taken a solutions-driven approach, tailoring shredding technology to meet the unique challenges of each application.

“[SSI] pulls together as a team, combining decades of experience to drive the right solution for the customer,” Farling notes.

The Future of Our Oceans

With millions of tonnes of plastic in the ocean and a limited amount of time to collect it, the crisis is urgent. Marine ecosystems, already under strain from climate change and pollution, face additional harm from plastic waste.

Currently, government grants fund much of the environmental research and cleanup operations, but Farling believes that more capital is necessary to address the scale of the problem.

“We need to create an economy around environmental services,” maintains Farling.

By transforming recovered plastics into raw materials, OPR aims to close the loop on plastic waste, proving that ocean cleanup can be both sustainable and financially viable.

As research advances and partnerships grow, OPR is demonstrating that tackling the ocean plastics crisis requires more than just cleanup. By integrating science, industry, and financial sustainability, they are proving that a lasting solution is within reach.

‍[i] Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean
Jenna R. Jambeck, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox, Theodore R. Siegler, Miriam Perryman, Anthony Andrady, Ramani Narayan, and Kara Lavender Law.
Science, 13 Feb 2015, Vol. 347, Issue 6223, pp. 768–771. DOI: 10.1126/science.1260352

[ii] Production of methane and ethylene from plastic in the environment
Sarah-Jeanne Royer, Sara Ferrón, Samuel Wilson, and David Karl.
PLOS ONE, 2018, Vol. 13, e0200574. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200574

[iii] Can microplastics pose a threat to ocean carbon sequestration?

Maocai Shen ^a¹, Shujing Ye ^a¹, Guangming Zeng ^a, Yaxin Zhang ^a, Lang Xing ^a, Wangwang Tang ^a, Xiaofeng Wen ^a, Shaoheng Liu ^{a b}. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 150, January 2020, 110712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110712