End-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear: An assessment of the potential recycling capacity in Scotland

Appendix D: Interview questions for each stakeholder category

Questions for the commercial fishing sector, aquaculture sector, and harbours

1. What happens to EOL gear - what options exist for its disposal?

2. Of those disposal methods, which ones do you utilise most and why?

Prompt: What are some features of these disposal options that make them easier / more challenging?

3. How much EOL gear is recycled?

Prompt: What type of gear is it?

Prompt: Which components of it are recycled?

Prompt: What materials are these components made from?

4. Are you aware of any schemes collecting EOL gear?

Prompt: Does any processing need to be done before collection? If so, what is it?

5. Do you know of any reprocessing facilities that accept EOL gear?

Prompt: Is all gear accepted, or only certain types? Are there some gear types that do not get accepted?

Prompt: Does gear have to be cleaned / processed in any way beforehand?

6. What is a typical state of EOL gear?

7. Are you aware of any initiatives looking to repair and / or reuse EOL gear?

8. What could be done to increase the responsible disposal of fishing gear?

Prompt: Is the industry motivated to tackle this issue?

Prompt: What would you like to see being done?

Questions for the reuse and recyclate output markets

1. Why do you choose to work with recycled output from fishing / aquaculture gear in particular?

2. Do you administer / manage the collection of fishing gear?

If Yes:

• Do you get any local authority or government support to do that?
• Where do you send the gear to be processed?
• Do you do any pre-processing (sorting, cleansing, etc.)?
• How is the gear sorted?

- What happens to components not made from plastic?

3. Is it easy or challenging to find a reprocessor that takes on the recycling of fishing gear?

Prompt: What are the specific challenges in recycling fishing gear?

4. Are there any other facilities that reprocess fishing gear (other than the one you use)?

Prompt: What would incentivise more facilities to take on this waste stream?

5. What can / should be done to increase the recycling rate of EOL gear?

6. How much output material do you purchase on an annual basis?

Prompt: What would incentivise you to purchase more of it?

7. Are there any challenges associated with selling goods made from recycled fishing gear?

Prompt: Could more businesses use these outputs?

Prompt: What would incentivise them to do so?

8. Are you aware of any initiatives looking to repair and / or reuse EOL gear?

Questions for waste sector experts and government organisations

1. What facilities do you know that reprocess fishing gear?

Prompt: Are there other facilities that have the capacity to do so, but do not?

2. What are the main challenges of working with EOL gear?

Prompt: How can these challenges be addressed?

3. Do you think there is capacity to recycle more fishing gear using the technology available currently?

Prompt: Do you know of any recent / current plans to develop new technology to recycle fishing gear?

4. Is there a market for the recyclate derived from fishing / aquaculture gear?

Prompt: How do these outputs compare to those derived from other waste streams? Are they more / less in demand and why?

5. Are there any policy options that you think could encourage increased recycling of fishing gear?

Questions for NGOs and other stakeholders

1. What happens to EOL fishing and aquaculture gear currently?

Prompt: Where does the waste material end up and why?

2. What actions has your organisation taken to progress the recycling of plastic fishing gear?

3. Are you aware of any initiatives tackling EOL gear currently?

4. Do you have any links to reprocessors of EOL gear?

5. What are the challenges associated with the recycling of EOL gear?

6. Are there any policy options that you think could encourage increased recycling of EOL gear?