HPU’s Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR) has launched the state鈥檚 first and only marine debris Plastic Recycling Research Facility (PRRF), pioneering efforts to transform hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic waste collected from the Pacific Ocean into long-life infrastructure products. This pioneering initiative aims to mitigate environmental damage and create durable products that could revolutionize local infrastructure, including construction materials for critically needed affordable housing in Hawai鈥榠.
Since relocating its operations to the Kalihi warehouse site in June 2024, CMDR has hauled in and processed over 227,000 pounds of marine debris, largely derelict fishing gear, including ghost nets and floats. Most of it is swept in, through swirling currents, from the North Pacific Garbage Patch where it is then collected by partners on various neighbor islands or by the Hawai鈥榠 Longline Association and other commercial fishers through the Bounty Project.
鈥淭hese plastics drift from across the Pacific, accumulating in the North Pacific Gyre and eventually snagging on Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 fragile coral reefs before washing up on the shores,鈥� said HPU Environmental Scientist and CMDR Megaplastic Program Director Mafalda de Freitas, M.Sc. 鈥淣o Hawai鈥榠-based fishermen use the type of trawl nets we find; this debris is overwhelmingly foreign, underscoring the global nature of this issue.鈥�