DP World Recycles Ghost Nets from the Sea of Marmara into Sunglasses

Abandoned fishing nets, known as ghost nets, that lay on the bottom of the Sea of Marmara are being turned into sunglasses thanks to a project backed by terminal operator DP World. The initiative focuses on the area around the Princes' Islands (Adalar), off Istanbul, and aims to recover around 800 kg of nets, equivalent to more than 1,000 square meters of material.

The project is being carried out by DP World together with Deniz Yaşamını Koruma Derneği (the Turkish Marine Life Conservation Society). The organization's team locates abandoned nets through reports, technology, nautical charts and local knowledge, then carefully removes them from the seabed, recording the weight, size and location of each one to map where lost fishing gear accumulates.

The work is concentrated in deep waters around Istanbul and the Princes' Islands, with nets recovered from depths of more than 50 meters, including one found at 55 meters. During one of the recovery operations, the team also found three skate egg cases among the retrieved material, which were immediately returned to the sea.

Once ashore, the nets are processed into recycled plastic pellets, which are then turned into custom-designed sunglasses, each pair stamped on the inside of the frame with the coordinates and depth of the location where the original net was found. Not all of the recovered material will be used this way: DP World is also working with SUSAKO, the Sustainable Art Women's Cooperative, with which it will organize workshops for the public to turn ghost net plastic into jewelry, while also boosting women's economic participation.

Nicholas Mazzei, DP World's Vice President of Sustainability for Europe, noted that ghost nets remain a threat to marine life long after they are lost, and that turning a net recovered from the seabed into a pair of sunglasses makes the idea of reuse tangible. For his part, Volkan Narcı, chairman of Deniz Yaşamını Koruma Derneği, stressed that protecting the seas requires collaboration, and that the partnership with DP World helps generate a more lasting impact on the health of the Sea of Marmara. The initiative is part of DP World's Source to Sea approach, aimed at restoring aquatic ecosystems, enhancing natural carbon sinks and supporting biodiversity in the regions where it operates.