From Fishing Nets to Furniture: Turning Ocean Plastic Into Usable Products

Abandoned fishing nets—durable nylon “ghost nets” that can last for centuries—trap marine life and damage reefs. A brother-and-sister team in Spain founded Gravity Wave in 2019 to collect those nets and turn them into furniture, decorative materials and plastic pellets.

“Our goal is to create value through impact, not just clean up the oceans,” said Amaia Rodríguez Solá. Gravity Wave works with more than 7,000 fishermen in 150 ports across Spain, Italy and Greece and teams up with specialized dive crews to retrieve nets tangled on the seafloor.

In a five-day operation in 2024 called Mission Salobreña, workers and divers removed nearly 5,000 kilograms of netting from a protected zone. The company controls the whole process—from collection to product design and sales—and uses blockchain to certify environmental impact.

Spain, Italy, Greece

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