Project Manaia

Marine Debris

There are many issues our seas are struggling with, but few are as visible as plastics. Though we have only been producing them for a few decades and yet in many places, the amount of plastics already outnumbers plankton and even fish.

While Plastic is an incredible material – designed for eternity – exactly that feature is what is causing us many issues by now. It is meant to last forever, and all it does in the water is break down into smaller and smaller pieces until it finds its way back into our food sources as micro (or even nano-) plastics. During our expeditions we collect data on marine debris too, if you like to be part of our data collection you can check out our schedule page to book your spot, and if you would like to read more about the plastic problem visit our blog!

plastic pollution at beach
Plastic Pollution at Beach

Our Marine Debris Workshop

In our Marine Debris Workshop, we will explain to you more about the background of the plastic problem: Where it comes from, what it does to the environment, and how it also affects us once again.
We will run a beach and underwater cleanup program with you and your dive center or school/community. We can also offer solutions for what to do with the “trash” collected from the waters/beaches. While there is a lot of work to be done, certain people are already on track and finding solutions for these issues. Ultimately, we might not be the ones who made the mess, but we all want to use the sea for our pleasure so we should all share the responsibility of cleaning our combined mess up together!
You can now become part of the solution and join our workshops in a location near you!

Petbot 3D Filament making machine from plastic bottles

Petbot allows you to make filament out of PET bottles which we collect from the cleanups. After separating the bottles, we rinse the bottles and heat them up until their surface is smooth. After cutting their bottom piece, you basically attach the bottle to the Petbot machine and turn them into 3D filament.

Since we also have a 3D printer, we print objects out of these filaments we are making. We give away the printed goods to our supporters in return for donations to fund our work. We are happy to provide online workshops in your school/community/club and show you how we process the recycling with Petbot and printing with the 3D printer.


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