Category: 3. Business

Ian Falconer kept thinking about the heaps of discarded plastic fishing nets he saw at Newlyn harbour near his home in Cornwall. “I thought ‘it’s such a waste’,” he says. “There has to be a better solution than it all going into landfill.”

Falconer, 52, who studied environmental and mining geology at university, came up with a plan: shredding and cleaning the worn out nets, melting the plastic down and converting it into filament to be used in 3D printing. He then built a “micro-factory” so that the filament could be made into useful stuff.

“Every year, up to 1m tonnes of fishing nets are discarded,” he says. “Most of that ends up in landfill or is burned, or worse still finds its way back into the oceans. This showed there was another way for some of that material.”

The first big challenge he encountered when he started in 2016, was getting hold of the nets. But he badgered the Newlyn harbour master into giving him a few to test his theory in his kitchen.

Since its launch the following year, Falconer’s company OrCA (previously Fishy Filaments) has raised more than £1m from small investors in over 40 countries. The investment funded the development of patented new machinery that can convert more than 20 kilos of nylon fishing nets an hour. He claims the recycling process has less than 3% of the carbon impact of producing new nylon.

“When they get to us, this particular type of fishing nets have typically been used by Cornish fishers for around six months,” he says. “They are routinely swapped out because their surfaces become cloudy due to wear and the build up of an algal biofilm. With time and repeated use, eventually the fish can sense them in the water and avoid them.

“Skippers can see their catches fall as their nets age and it makes sense to replace them.”

The nets that go into the shredder come out as small blue-green beads that Falconer sells to 3D printing companies, which convert them into strings of filament used in 3D printing. They also get sold around the world to replace new plastic in more conventional products that are made using injection moulding.

Falconer’s shipping container office is full of items made from the raw material: sunglasses, light shades, bottle openers, razor blade handles. It can be used for just about anything. The items he is most proud of are those made from his nylon mixed with waste carbon fibre – mostly from offcuts of car and aeroplane manufacturing. This stronger and more expensive product is used to make parts for racing bikes and super-light sunglasses, and industrial components such as electronic enclosures.

The carbon and nylon mix sells for up to £35,000 a tonne – more than the £12,000 a tonne pure nylon beads. “Our process turns a liability of about £500 a tonne to pay to get someone to take the nets away, not to mention the environmental cost of that, into something of real value,” Falconer says. “Now, when I pass the piles of fishing nets on the harbourside, I see piles of money.”

Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear poses one of the most serious threats to marine life, says Rachel Coppock, marine ecologist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, adding that innovative ideas to reduce this are welcome.

“Recycling schemes are increasingly seen as viable and beneficial in demonstrating how old gear can be transformed into new products, reducing landfill waste and supporting a circular economy,” she says. “Though challenges remain in scaling these efforts due to material complexity and infrastructure gaps.”

Falconer’s roster of clients, which includes Philips lighting, L’Oréal, Ford and Mercedes-Benz, is increasing as more companies see OrCA’s potential to help them reduce their carbon footprint by increasing the proportion of their products made from recycled materials.

“The European Union wants automakers to use at least 20% recycled plastic by 2035,” he says. “Using ours is one of the easiest ways to do it.”

Falconer could make a nice living continuing to recycle Newlyn fishers’ nets, but he has wider ambitions. “Waste fishing nets are a problem here in Cornwall, but the same type of nets are a much bigger problem in other countries, especially those without established waste systems,” he says. “Around Africa, South and Central America and Asia you see these nets littering beaches.”

Many of those countries don’t have the equipment to recycle the nets, he says, so they are burned or just left as waste. “They even end up back in the water where they can damage coral reefs and harm marine life, including the fisheries that the local communities rely on for food.”

About 150,000 tonnes of nylon monofilament fishing nets are made every year, and, based on external reports, Falconer estimates production will soon rise to 200,000 tonnes. The world’s total traditional nylon recycling capacity is less than 150,000 tonnes a year, so less than half the capacity that European carmakers need to meet their targets, and almost all of that is taken up with recycling carpets and other textiles.

To try to combat the problem, Falconer plans on exporting his recycling solution to any harbour that wants it. A container with all the equipment needed to run a mini recycling plant would cost about $500,000 (£370,000) if built in the UK.

Falconer says he has already received inquiries from 14 countries including Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, South Africa and Vietnam.

“The beauty of it is that it all fits in a shipping container and pretty much anyone can operate it,” he says. “So you could have one of these at every harbour around the world, converting a costly and hazardous waste into a profitable raw material.”

YouTube users reported problems streaming content and accessing the app for about 60 minutes before the company resolved the issue.

YouTube says it has resolved problems with its website and app after hundreds of thousands of users worldwide self-reported issues with its streaming services.

“This issue has been fixed – you should now be able to play videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV!” YouTube wrote on X on Thursday morning in Asia.

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YouTube did not disclose why users reported problems streaming videos for about 60 minutes on Thursday morning, or the global extent of the problem.

Disruptions began just before 7am in East Asia (23:00 GMT, Wednesday) for YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube TV, according to Downdetector, a website that aggregates website disruptions in real time.

Users from Asia to Europe and North America soon reported problems streaming, accessing the website, and using the apps of YouTube and its affiliates, though error reports were most heavily concentrated in the US, according to Downdetector’s user-generated error map.

Major disruptions were also reported in Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom, although the extent of the problem is unknown because Downdetector data is based on user-submitted reports and social media.

The number of error reports peaked at 393,038 reports in the US at 7:57am (23:57 GMT) before falling off sharply, according to Downdetector data.

Downdetector reported a smaller number of disruptions for YouTube Music and YouTube TV, which both peaked at fewer than 5,000 error reports in the US over the same period of time.

KARIYA, Japan (October 16, 2025) — DENSO CORPORATION (hereinafter “DENSO”) will exhibit at the “Japan Mobility Show 2025^*1” held at Tokyo Big Sight from Thursday, October 30, to Sunday, November 9.

Under the theme “Changing the Shape of the Future with Technology: Community Meets Mobility,” DENSO will present technologies that create new value for society, starting with the evolution of the automobile and expanding connections with cities and people. The booth will feature a four-seater simulation vehicle, immersive theater, and presentations using videos and actual products.

To meet the increasingly diverse needs of people in the future mobility society, Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) , which continuously evolve through software, will become mainstream, and dramatically transform transportation. The exhibit will allow visitors to experience the value that future mobility brings to vehicle users and society, as well as the initiatives and technologies that DENSO is developing to support it.

In the four-seater simulation vehicle, visitors can experience the future of mobility that is “attuned to people,” together with families and friends. The SDV platform will be introduced through an interactive presentation synchronized with video content. Moreover, engineers responsible for SDV platform development will engage with visitors to explain the details of SDV related technologies, such as integrated mobility computers that consolidate ECUs (Electronic Control Units) that control various vehicle functions.

Furthermore, DENSO will display semiconductor wafer manufacturing technologies and initiatives for the development of high-performance semiconductors that support the evolution of vehicles.

As environmental issues such as global warming become more prevalent, reducing the environmental impact of automobiles has become an urgent challenge. This exhibit introduces technologies aimed at lowering the environmental impact of vehicles, as well as systems that connect cars with social infrastructure to enable smarter energy use across society—initiatives and innovations toward achieving carbon neutrality.

In the immersive theater, visitors can experience a future scene brought to life by DENSO’s energy management initiatives through a combination of video, special effects, and more. They’ll also see the latest electrification technologies, including the new inverter with a flat dual-sided cooling structure, along with energy management technologies that integrate electrification and thermal systems, such as efficient management and optimization of vehicle waste heat. Additionally, DENSO will present initiatives that manage energy and resources across society starting from mobility, such as “EVECOM” (charging control system for electric vehicles), battery circulation systems, and the SOEC^*2 water electrolysis device, in a presentation format.

Please discover the future society envisioned by DENSO through mobility—at the venue.

(Reference) DENSO Exclusive Website for Japan Mobility Show 2025:
https://www.denso.com/global/en/events/jms/2025/

■Press Conference Information
A press conference will be held at the DENSO booth as follows:

Tokyo, October 16, 2025 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has received a contract from the city of Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture) to refurbish and improve the core facilities of the city’s East Environmental Energy Center, a municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plant. The renovation of the stoker-type incinerators(Note1) with processing capacity of 250 tons per day (tpd) aims to extend the life of the facility, enhance energy efficiency, and reduce CO₂ emissions. The total value of the contract is 4.3 billion yen before tax, with work scheduled to be completed in March 2029.

The East Environmental Energy Center was engineered and built by MHI, and completed in March 1991. It comprises two stoker-type incinerators, each with processing capacity of 125 tpd. Power generation capacity utilizing residual heat from the plant is 3,000 kilowatts (kW).

The plant’s core facilities have previously been refurbished twice, first over a four-year period from 2004, followed by a round of construction over a four-year period from 2014. This third refurbishment aims to extend the operational life of the facility through renewal of major equipment that has become impossible to maintain due to deterioration over time and production discontinuation, including the facilities for waste reception and feeding, combustion, combustion gas cooling, exhaust gas treatment, and waste heat utilization. In addition, energy efficiency will be enhanced with the adoption of high-efficiency motors and transformers, while upgrades to MHIEC’s proprietary new combustion control system, previously installed as part of the earlier improvement work, will allow for a lower air ratio(Note2) and provide more stable combustion.

In recent years, the number of renovation projects for MSW facilities has increased as a measure to extend the operational life of such plants, and reduce their impact on global warming. MHIEC took over the waste treatment plant business in 2008, acquiring MHI’s technological development capabilities in environmental systems and broad-ranging expertise in the construction and operation of waste management facilities both in Japan and overseas. This extensive experience allows MHIEC to provide comprehensive solutions, from plant construction to operations. Going forward, leveraging this latest order and its past results, MHIEC will proactively propose further energy-saving enhancements and system improvements for stable operation at existing waste treatment facilities, as well as ways to reduce lifecycle costs, including maintenance and management costs, leading to further business contracts.

• 1 A stoker-type incinerator injects air from beneath heat-resistant fire grates, mixing the waste and other material by pushing it up, and allowing for efficient incineration. It is the most common system used for municipal solid waste (MSW).
• 2 The air ratio is the value of the actual amount of air supplied to the incinerator for combustion, divided by the theoretical minimum amount of air required for complete waste combustion.