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

1. Introduction

Marine plastic pollution is a growing global concern, with millions of tonnes entering the marine environment each year.^[1] A significant percentage of this pollution originates from the fishing and aquaculture sectors.^[2] This global issue threatens marine ecosystems, endangers biodiversity, disrupts food chains and impacts coastal economies and communities.^[3] Larger plastic items such as nets, present an entanglement risk to marine organisms. Plastics also break down over time, releasing microplastics, which can have a negative impact on the marine environment and can threaten animal and human health.^[4]

Scotland is no exception. The Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch litter survey results in 2024 indicated marine litter was a large issue and found that fishing and aquaculture-related litter made up 32 per cent of all litter recorded on Scottish islands and 12 per cent of litter on mainland Scotland.^[5]

The Scottish Government aims to grow a more circular economy, as set out in its Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030. This includes reducing waste, increasing recycling and encouraging sustainable practices.^[6] Under the refreshed Marine Litter Strategy (2022),^[7] the Scottish Government is working towards preventing litter from entering the marine environment as well as supporting its removal. Increasing the collection and recycling of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear would reduce a potential source of litter and enable more of the economic value of these materials to be recovered, supporting circular economy goals.^[8]

Scotland’s efforts are aligned with broader international initiatives. In 2019, the British-Irish Council Marine Litter Symposium saw environment ministers commit to improving recycling routes for end-of-life (EOL) fishing nets.^[9] Since January 2025, the EU’s Single-use Plastics Directive has required fishing and aquaculture gear to be covered under extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes.^[10] In 2024, the initial drafts to come out of negotiations for a globally binding plastics treaty included provisions on recycling.

Currently, there is a lack of understanding of waste management options: who has the capability to reprocess plastic fishing and aquaculture gear originating in Scotland, and how much capacity exists. The Scottish Government’s current understanding is that most EOL gear brought ashore is either stored, disposed of in landfill, incinerated with some energy recovery, or exported for recycling or recovery.

This report builds on previous research undertaken by Resource Futures in 2021, which established an inventory of gear in use, its material composition and its geographical distribution.^[11] While this provided a baseline understanding of plastic waste generation from Scottish fishery and aquaculture sectors, further work was needed to assess viable waste management pathways. This research helps to inform future policy development by identifying:

• Which facilities can, and are willing to, accept Scottish-derived materials.
• What intermediate processing activities are needed.
• Barriers and challenges to increasing domestic reprocessing.
• Opportunities to expand domestic reprocessing.

The previous research found that the aquaculture industry produces the largest quantity of plastic waste material by weight in Scotland, followed by potters. The key polymers in waste fishing and aquaculture gear are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).^[12] These gear types and polymers were therefore a focus in this study.

This research provides new evidence on what happens to EOL Scottish-derived plastic fishing and aquaculture gear and what current reprocessing activities are taking place in Scotland. It presents information on Scotland’s plastic reprocessing capacity and under-utilised reprocessing facilities. Barriers to scaling up reprocessing are examined with opportunities and best practice examples explored through case studies. Finally, the research identifies opportunities to support the expansion of domestic reprocessing.