Upcycling the Oceans is the main project of the Ecoalf Foundation and undoubtedly the most ambitious one; an unprecedented worldwide adventure that fights against marine waste with the help of the fishing industry. An initiative with an international scope that was born in Spain in 2015 and since then has also been implemented in Thailand, Greece, Italy, France and Egypt. Ecoalf Foundation is currently working on its expansion to other countries in the Mediterranean basin.

+1140 BOATS

+4775 FISHERMEN

+206 T/YEAR

+2100 T. SINCE 2015

80 PORTS

+1000 BOATS
1 5 5

01. RECOVER

More than 4775 fishermen collaborate daily with the project on a voluntary basis to recover the trash caught in their nets.

02. SEPARATE

Waste is deposited in specific containers at the port and periodically transported to treatment plants for sorting.

03. RECYCLE

The various selected materials are converted back into raw material. In particular, the plastic waste is transformed into flakes and pellets, ready for a new life.

04. DESIGN

Recycled marine debris has different applications. One example is the conversion of PET plastic into polyester yarn for use in the textile industry.

The objectives of Upcycling the Oceans are: to collaborate in cleaning up the oceans, to give a second life to recovered marine waste and to raise awareness of the problem in order to prevent it.

Upcycling the Oceans has recovered more than 2100 tonnes of trash from the bottom of the ocean since its origins in 2015.

HISTORICAL RESULTS

The fishermen are the real heroes of this project. Every day they collect the waste that is accidentally caught in their nets, take it to port and deposit it in specific containers to prevent it from being mixed with other waste streams. Periodically, this waste is transported to treatment plants where it is sorted to facilitate its subsequent recycling and conversion into new products.

Upcycling Oceans Spain was launched in September 2015 by the Ecoalf Foundation as a pilot project. One year later, ECOEMBES joined the initiative as a strategic partner to help expand it across the entire Spanish coastline and ensure the proper management of all recovered waste.

47 PORTS
+660 BOATS
+ 2690 FISHERMEN
+1490 T SINCE 2015

The Italian coast is one of the priority targets for the Upcycling the Oceans project in its expansion throughout the Mediterranean basin. Thus, at the end of 2020 it began its journey in the Lazio Region with a first pilot port that is has been key in collecting information and show the feasibility of the project in Italy.

2 PORTS
15 BOATS
60 FISHERMEN
+53 T SINCE 2020

Greece established a collaboration agreement in 2020 with Enaleia, a social enterprise whose mission is to fight marine pollution.

15 PORTS
+100 BOATS
+740 FISHERMEN
+455 T SINCE 2020

Thanks to the support of the Julius Baer Foundation and in collaboration with Fondation de la Mer, the Ecoalf Foundation launched the project “Repêchons les Océans”: the French adaptation of Upcycling the Oceans.

15 PORTS
299 BOATS
689 FISHERMEN
75.5 T SINCE 2022

Upcycling the Oceans-Thailand is a collaborative project that began in 2017 with the participation of three partners: the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (GC), and the Ecoalf Foundation.

+1,400 VOLUNTEERS
+300 DIVERS
+13 T COLLECTED

In 2023, together with the organization Enaleia, Upcycling the Oceans launched in Egypt, the country that contributes the most to Mediterranean pollution.

1 PORT
5 BOATS
30 FISHERMEN
42.4 T SINCE 2023



www.fundacionecoalf.org