Turning Plastic Waste into Floating Parks Prevents Plastic Pollution

Rotterdam, Netherlands-based Recycled Island Foundation in partnership with the Whim Architecture firm has successfully tested an innovative solution to convert plastic waste into floating parks.

The ‘Recycled Park Project’ was originally launched in 2014 by Ramon Knoester, with the aim of creating floating parks by recycling plastics into platform. Following five long years of hard work, a prototype of the project was launched in July last year. This was realized using three floating litter traps with nets attached to it to collect plastic litter in Rotterdam’s New Meuse River before entering the North Sea. The litter traps, developed in collaboration with Hebo Maritimeservice and Rotterdam Municipality, are capable of capturing and containing floating litter despite ship traffic and tidal changes. The retrieved litter stays inside the trap until they are emptied for recycling purposes.

The plastics thus retrieved, is converted into hexagonal building blocks, which are then used to build floating island park in the river. The project aims to add five more plastic litter traps, so as to increase the park area. Research is underway in Indonesia to expand the project to other parts of the world.

The floating park illustrates the potential of creating new floating landscapes by using recycled plastics. It has contributed immensely to the improvement of ecosystem in the Rotterdam harbour.