Uncovering circular pathways for fishing and aquaculture gear in Scotland

Assessing Scotland’s ability to recycle its waste fishing and aquaculture gear.

Fishing and aquaculture are vital to Scotland’s economy, but these activities generate significant waste. Our latest estimates show that more than 4,250 tonnes of plastic waste are produced each year. High contamination from biofouling and the need for manual dismantling make recovering these materials both labour‑intensive and costly.

The Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate commissioned Resource Futures to examine what happens to fishing and aquaculture materials once they reach end-of-life, to assess domestic reprocessing capacity, and to identify opportunities to increase circular management of these materials in the future.

This work built on our 2021 and 2022 research into material composition and waste arisings in these sectors across Scotland and the wider UK.

Plugging knowledge gaps around end-of-life management

Most end-of-life gear brought ashore is stored indefinitely, landfilled, incinerated or exported for recycling. However, there were major gaps in the Scottish Government’s understanding of why relatively little fishing and aquaculture material enters domestic reprocessing.

Our research explored existing reprocessing capacity across Scotland and the UK, the barriers facing domestic operators, and the pre-processing steps required to make end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear suitable for treatment.

We spoke to more than 40 stakeholders across two groups – plastic reprocessors, and other organisations in the fishing and aquaculture sectors – to gather robust evidence on material pathways and reprocessing capacity.

To support this work, our team created GIS maps showing existing processing infrastructure for each target polymer and the material value chain within a Scottish context.

All the gear, no clear pathway for reprocessing

Large volumes of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear continue to be landfilled, with only small amounts reprocessed domestically.

This is, however, not down to limited reprocessing capacity. We identified eleven facilities across Scotland capable of reprocessing the polymers commonly found in this gear^[i], with a combined spare capacity of 12,500 tonnes per year – well above the 4,250 tonnes of plastic waste generated annually by Scotland’s fishing and aquaculture sectors.

Despite this estimated capacity, only two facilities were accepting end-of-life gear in 2025. These reprocessed an estimated 1,040 tonnes annually (1,000 tonnes from Scotland and 40 from England), with a third facility due to take on small volumes from 2026.

Concerningly, the single company handling Scottish-derived material was due to cease trading at the end of 2025 due to rising operating costs. As a result, from 2026, very limited Scottish material will be reprocessed domestically; more than 4,000 tonnes a year will instead need to be stored, landfilled or exported for treatment.

Navigating choppy waters around market viability

Having confirmed that reprocessing capacity was not the core issue, we investigated what was holding back fishing and aquaculture gear recycling. Challenges include the sporadic nature of waste generation, and the logistical complexity of collecting and transporting material – often from remote and island locations.

On top of this, the pre-processing that is required to make the plastic waste suitable for mainstream reprocessing facilities is costly and labour intensive, with few organisations doing this. The economics have been doubly challenging in recent years: low virgin polymer prices have limited market demand for recycled alternatives and depressed the value of secondary plastics.

Through this research, and the development of several domestic and international case studies, we identified options and considerations for the Scottish Government in their efforts to support fishing and aquaculture gear recycling. While short-term prospects for domestic reprocessing are uncertain, there is a strong opportunity for coordinated action between the fishing industry, the Scottish Government, and reprocessors willing to handle this material. Greater collaboration could shift more waste away from landfill and towards a circular system.

This research will support and focus future action by the Scottish Government on managing fishing and aquaculture material waste, offering a robust data baseline and potential intervention options for constructive discussion, enabling meaningful progress.

You can access the full report here.

[i] polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE)