Project Update: Fishing for… tyres

Each year, 45 countries with the highest vehicle usage rates generate an estimated 29 million metric tons of waste tyres globally [1]. While about 90% of these tyres find new uses, many end up polluting landfills, stockpiles, or natural environments, posing serious health and ecological threats to marine life and coastal ecosystems [2].

Since August, BVRio’s Fishing for Litter project, in partnership with Ogyre, has been targeting these harmful waste tyres in Rio’s Guanabara Bay, especially around Ilha do Governador, to increase tyre recycling. In just two months, 20 dedicated fishers collected 2,080 tyres, totalling over 18 metric tons. The tyres have been diverted from polluting land and water and converted to energy generation for industry, and included 1,883 car tyres weighing approximately 14,897 kg, 99 motorcycle tyres at 369.75 kg, and 81 truck tyres, many of which were pulled from dense mangroves, where they were lodged as remnants of long-term pollution in the Bay. 

Removing them proved to be labour-intensive, sometimes requiring up to four people to unearth one tyre due to their weight and entanglement with mud and wet sand. “It took us 15 minutes to pull one out!” recounts a fisher involved in the effort, underscoring the difficulty and dedication behind each recovery. “The removal of tyres is crucial, especially for our fishers in Guanabara Bay who feel the direct impact,” says Glaucia, the project’s community coordinator. “We need more actions like this to restore the Bay’s mangroves.” 

The fishers, working as waste pickers in this project, collect any types of materials ending their life in harder to reach marine environments, those usually skipped by municipal and private waste companies. Using KOLEKT, data from each collection is recorded by the fishers (or any informal collectors in emerging markets), allowing the growing collection of recyclables supported by mobile technology that tracks the recovered materials with full transparency and traceability, even if offline and collectors have no phone.

The Fishing for Litter initiative, which is funded by ESG-focused brand partners, is designed to generate measurable environmental and social impact, allowing companies to invest in ocean health and sustainability efforts that support both communities and industry. By investing in hand picking we can rid the bay of materials that pollute the ocean, especially plastics in various forms, but also targeting specific products, such as tyres and flip-flops, or types of materials – such as PETs, fabrics, upholstery, glass, rubber, electronic waste, etc.

This project demonstrates how skilled, community-led efforts can be powerful, enabling local fishers to make tangible contributions and earn for the environmental service they provide. “Supporting this effort with BVRio aligns with our mission to empower fishers and protect our oceans by transforming waste into positive change.”  – Antonio Augeri, Ogyre co-founder.

“We are seeking new partnerships with companies that wish to engage in cleaning the ocean. This is a call to all who want to be part of a solution with proven social and environmental impacts on the ocean pollution problem.” – Pedro Succar, BVRio circular economy specialist.

References:

[1] WBCSD—World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 2019 Global ELT Management Report.

[2] Marine-dumped Waste Tyres and Ecological Impact on Hermit Crabs. Royal Society Open Science, October 2021.