00:05This bottle is a fish in sea. It's a less than 20 million tons of plastic that every year
00:12are delivered in our oceans. But this bottle has a future, it will become a
00:24more than 15 years, the Spanish company EcoAlf has transformed marine materials and materials
00:31in fashion products. In that way? And the sustainable mode will be able to invert the trend of fast fashion?
00:38We'll see you next week from Spain for Made in Europe.
00:56There are almost 5.000 pescatori. It is a foundation without scopo of lucro,
01:01inside the brand eco-sostenible spagnola EcoAlf. Every day, the pescatori
01:11recuperate the fish that remain buried in the net and the foundation EcoAlf has structured
01:15a system that allows them to value, transform them in materials, namely in materials.
01:23This is the bread of every day, a lot of plastic, a bottle. Now the plastic is the 80%
01:31of everything.
01:32Before that the modes of recycling and everything, we collected the only thing that we didn't separate.
01:40Dal 2015, the project UpCycling the Oceans, launched at the birth of the EcoAlf Foundation,
01:46has recovered over 2.000 tons of marine materials, the equivalent of about 100 camions full of detriti.
01:55The initiative involves now 80% of ports and is extended to France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and Thailand.
02:03A result is still far away from the scale of the problem, however. The foundation reminds
02:07that every minute the equivalent of a camion carrying plastic plastic ends in the ocean.
02:11It was a pescator who told us that every day when he was faenated, there were mountains and
02:19mountains of dirt in the bottom of the sea. The foundation was born with the goal of giving
02:23a structure to the pescadores who take that dirt to try to recycle it. We always had the objective
02:30of collaborating with all the pescadores of the Mediterranean and joining 10.000 pescadores,
02:36to reach that number, to be able to clean the Mediterranean Sea.
02:44The pescadores are recovered from the pescadores in the port of Gandia,
02:47they travel from containers placed in the port of Gandia,
02:50to a treatment treatment and recycling of pescadores close to Valencia.
02:56Here they are separated by categories and materials.
02:59The type of recyclable waste is repeated in every port that participates to the project.
03:08The type of recyclable waste is coming from the sea, almost everything is based on plastic.
03:12There is some wire from the port, they come from about half a ton of a ton of per month,
03:20or about 12 ton of per year.
03:21Today, what percentage do you recycle?
03:25Here in planta, last year and this year, we have around 84-86% of the harvest.
03:33And each year we go with the faster pace.
03:37Tra i materiali recuperati in mare, la maggior parte, come vetro e metalli,
03:42segue i tradizionali percorsi di riciclo.
03:47But around 5% is the container of plastic.
03:51It is made by collection of plastic bottles.
03:53The water and what Ecoalf has called the water.
03:56The water has called the water.
03:59The water's pulsant of this country is the seed of Ecoalfa Madrid
04:04where the water and many other materials riciclates
04:08are converted into hundreds of quasi pieces.
04:15How do you get from a bottle to a tissue?
04:19The first step when you collect the residue is to cut it and turn it into scum or flakes.
04:28Then, we go from these flakes to pellets, which is the next step before hilar.
04:35With these pellets, we can make a thread, such as this, for example.
04:41This would be the ocean yarn, not the thread.
04:44The process is complex.
04:46The plastic recovered in the sea is often damaged
04:48and, to be transformed, must be mixed with polyester recycled more intact.
04:54But the result ensures the company a very versatile material.
04:58We can make different shapes, with different textures,
05:02different thicknesses, such as these could be,
05:06or even to cut them, such as in this bag.
05:11From her birth, in 2009, the company collected the first materials
05:15well above the plastic bottles.
05:17Some fibers are derived from old nets of fishing,
05:19other from pneumatics or natural fibers recycled, such as cotton and wool.
05:25The goal, I explain, is to reduce the impact of the production and the capo finished,
05:30maintaining aesthetic and quality.
05:37How does the circularity influence the decisions that takes during the design process?
05:44It changes a lot from the beginning of the design, because there is not only material,
05:50but how it is made, how it is made, how it is made, how it is made, how it is
05:55made, how it is made,
05:56It has thought about everything so that it can be done completely,
06:00without any added process of the circularity.
06:07From the beginning of the day, Ecoalf is born with an ambition clear,
06:12to not to consume natural resources in a way irresponsible
06:15and preserve them for future generations.
06:1817 years later, the company has become a global brand
06:21with a total annual of about 65 million,
06:25more than 300 employees and dozens of businesses in the world.
06:30Ecoalf has shown that it can be successful
06:32and contribute to transform the sector of fashion.
06:36The problem we have in the last few years is that we are under a massive over-consume
06:42and over-production.
06:44All the brands are in constant launch, launch, new features,
06:48and it is generating that the clients want to consume more and more
06:51without having to need it.
06:54So we need to change that model of business.
06:57We need to change the market to create sustainable capsules
07:04or just to speak about a material,
07:07but the whole entire industry needs to change.
07:10We need to learn to design with eco-design, from the origin.
07:15Is it a utopia that fast fashion will be replaced?
07:20I think we are far from, but I think the industry
07:22is one of the most creative industries that are in the world,
07:26and I think the designers have a role in being able to offer something that has an impact,
07:33which in the end helps to protect our planet.
07:38EcoAlpha is an emblematic example of an circular economy,
07:41but it also raises a broader question.
07:44The recycling of the waste that we already produce
07:46can really compensate the amount of new waste that we continue to generate?
07:58Thank you, Ben.
