SAO Textile
SAO is a French mission-driven company founded in February 2023. It is dedicated to recycling used fishing nets into eco-friendly textiles.
The company collects fishing nets (tuna seines) in the Mediterranean between May and July. Operations are mainly concentrated in Sète, France's leading bluefin tuna fishing port, but also in Le Grau-d'Agde, Port-Vendres, and Ajaccio.
Once recovered, the nets undergo several stages of processing: cutting, densification, extrusion-granulation, extrusion spinning, and texturization, before being packaged into spools of yarn ready for use in textile production.
This process produces 100% recycled yarn without the addition of virgin material, representing a saving of approximately 2.29 kg of CO₂ equivalent per ton of fiber produced, or the equivalent of 700 kg of crude oil.
Type of waste : Tuna seines.
Quantity of waste : 150 tones of black tuna seines collected since 2023.
Infos
Location(s): Sète, Grau d'Agde, Port-Vendres, Ajaccio
Contact : contact@saotextile.fr
Results
The recycling process is controlled and implemented by SAO. However, the company is currently looking for customers to market its recycled plastic yarn.
SAO hopes to establish partnerships with companies in the fashion industry in 2026 that are likely to incorporate these threads into their production.
The company also wants to expand its business by recycling fine white nets in order to offer a range of threads in various colors.
The current goal is to process between 80 and 100 tons of tuna seines per year.
Initiatives to discover
initiative(s)
FILIPECH
The FILIPECH project has taken two main actions: the establishment of the producer responsability organisation dedicated to the management of end-of-life fishing gear, and the carrying out of new experiments in four ports to test and improve the collection and recovery of used HDPE trawls
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Gravity Wave
Gravity Wave is a social start-up based in Spain. committed to combating marine pollution through a circular economy model.
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IFF Plastics
IFF Plastics in Co. Clare, Ireland worked together with BIM to investigate if retired fishing nets from ports could be recycled into a material to create products such as fence posts.
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Oyster Bag Waste Management
Studies and trials have been carried out on managing waste aquaculture gear, determining the feasibility of disposal of end of life gear through recycling and other systems in comparison to other disposal strategies such as landfill.
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Repêchons les Océans
Founded in Spain in 2015, the international network Upcycling the Oceans transforms marine waste into resources through innovation and the circular economy.
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Repescaplas
The initiative aimed at mitigating the impact of marine litter, particularly plastic waste, through its recovery, characterisation, and valorisation into useful products.
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Upcycling the Oceans
Founded in Spain in 2015, the international network Upcycling the Oceans transforms marine waste into resources through innovation and the circular economy.
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