Removing marine waste from the sea is only the first step. Once brought ashore, it must be  directed towards an appropriate end-of-life destination. Without this process, collected waste could be dumped, burned without controls or leak back into the environment.

End-of-life is the stage at which a product or material is discarded and enters a waste pathway. It includes both managed outcomes—such as reuse, recycling, energy recovery and controlled landfill—and mismanaged outcomes, including uncontrolled dumping, open burning and environmental leakage.

This distinction matters. More than 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated globally every year. Plastic presents an additional challenge: only about 9% of plastic waste is recycled, while approximately 22% is mismanaged. Weak collection systems, limited sorting capacity and uncontrolled disposal can therefore turn discarded materials into long-term sources of pollution.The waste management hierarchy provides a framework for choosing between possible destinations. Prevention and reduction come first, although they take place before waste is generated. Once a material has become waste, maintaining its value through reuse, repair or recycling is generally preferable. Energy recovery may be used for fractions that cannot be recycled, provided processing takes place in regulated facilities with suitable emissions controls. Controlled landfill is a final containment option when no more sustainable route is feasible.

Open dumping, uncontrolled burning and release into the environment remain end-of-life outcomes in a descriptive sense. They are not responsible destinations. Waste can escape from dumpsites through wind, rain, flooding or surface runoff, while open burning takes place without systems for controlling emissions. Safe disposal instead requires containment that prevents waste and chemicals from leaking into the environment and avoids unacceptable risks to human health.

Ogyre collects post-consumer waste directly from the sea through Fishing for Litter activities and along coastal areas, where ocean-bound waste can be intercepted before reaching marine environments. The work does not end when the material is removed. Fishers weigh the collected waste, photograph it and record it on Ogyre’s dedicated platform, creating a traceable record of each collection activity. Local partners then support the subsequent stages of storage, transportation, sorting and responsible treatment.

The first step is separation. Collected loads may contain rigid plastics, films, metals, glass, textiles, organic residue and other materials. Sorting identifies what can be recovered and prevents incompatible or contaminated fractions from compromising recyclable materials.

The possible end-of-life pathways differ according to where the waste was collected. All ocean-bound waste collected through Ogyre’s activities is recycled. Because it is intercepted before reaching marine environments, the material is generally less degraded and contaminated, allowing it to be processed as secondary raw material.

For waste collected directly from the sea, the final destination depends primarily on its level of degradation. Prolonged exposure to salt water, sunlight, friction and organic matter can alter the material’s physical properties and reduce its recyclability. Each fraction is therefore assessed according to its condition and the facilities available locally.

Recycling is prioritised whenever marine waste remains technically suitable. It converts recovered material into secondary raw material, allowing it to begin a new lifecycle and reducing demand for virgin resources.

Marine waste that is too degraded or contaminated for recycling may be sent to regulated waste-to-energy or industrial co-processing facilities. In these systems, energy is recovered through controlled treatment. This route does not preserve the material itself, so it sits below recycling in the waste hierarchy, but it provides a managed destination for complex fractions that could not otherwise re-enter the production cycle.

Controlled landfill is considered only when recycling and energy recovery are not feasible. It contains the waste but does not return its materials to productive use. Under Ogyre’s Protocol, managed landfill is accepted for waste collected directly from marine environments only when no more sustainable destination is available.

Collection and recovery are essential to remove waste that is already putting marine ecosystems under pressure. But they cannot solve the problem alone. Long-term progress also depends on prevention: reducing unnecessary materials, improving waste management systems and stopping waste before it reaches nature.

Ogyre acts across both stages. Marine waste is removed directly from the sea, while ocean-bound waste is intercepted along coastal areas before reaching marine environments. The collected materials are then directed towards the most appropriate end-of-life treatment.

Recovery addresses the waste already present. Prevention reduces the amount entering the system. Both are necessary to protect the Ocean over time.

Ogyre (2025), Ogyre Code of Conduct pdf

Ogyre (2025), Ogyre Protocol pdf

OECD (2022), Global Plastics Outlook pdf

United Nations Environment Programme – UNEP (2024), Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 pdf