Ocean pollution is a more topical issue than ever. It is sufficient to consider that almost 14 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s waterways and then complete their journey right in the oceans. As you can imagine, this amount of plastic is not only found among wildlife, but also decomposes into microplastics that become complicated to remove. And the end result is one: it increases the level of pollution of the natural environment surrounding us.
Starting from this alarming picture, it is worth highlighting one of the most interesting proposals launched on the market by Torqeedo. The world’s leading manufacturer of electric and hybrid engines has decided to undertake a double mission. On the one hand, the aim was to work towards cleaner waterways; on the other, to make the marine industry more sustainable. How? Starting from this recycled plastic to build solutions to be used during the production stage.
More alternative materials to reduce environmental impact
“While integrating ocean plastics into our products is just one step of many as Torqeedo helps to build a more sustainable marine industry, it’s also much more significant than just diverting plastic bottles,” said Fabian Bez, CEO of Torqeedo GmbH.
What we can find before us is an original, but above all important project for the protection of the environment. The first things that stand out are three:
- Recycled plastic is used to integrate the brand’s iconic orange propellers
- The 100% recycled prototypes are of high quality and received good responses in testing
- Torqeedo’s project aims to demonstrate that it is possible to use plastic to produce plastic parts and articles with a high recycled content
Torqeedo’s new Advanced Engineering team is involved, among many other activities, in finding and exploring alternative materials to reduce the environmental impact of leisure and commercial marine industry. In fact, the team is currently working on testing recycled PET and PP plastic pellets from the ocean. According to research, they can reduce their CO2 footprint by more than 80 per cent and manage to ensure excellent quality thanks to rigorous processes and advanced recycling equipment.
“We made our prototype propellers from 100% recycled ocean plastics, and we’re thrilled to report that they surpassed all benchmarks in the first round of environmental and stress testing,” commented Florian Deger, who leads the project in Torqeedo’s Advanced Engineering Team.
From polluting waste to precious treasure for production
The Torqeedo project is based on the circular economy of plastics to obtain an important material to be used for production. The recycling stage is therefore feasible and paves the way for high-quality production without any loss of product performance or durability.
“It feels good to hold one of the prototypes in my hands and know we are keeping plastic bottles and pollution out of the waters we all love to explore on our boats,” concluded Deger himself, speaking about the company’s project.
The role of the new engineering team seems to have a pivotal future not only in the research phase but also in the adoption of materials that may become crucial in a climate and environmentally friendly production.