SDG 14 aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. This not only involves preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, but also ending destructive fishing practices and sustainably managing and protecting marine and coastal ecosystems.

Overview, targets and indicators of SDG 10

Forschungszentrum Jülich is helping to achieve SDG 14 by working together with 14 partners from 9 European countries to create biologically degradable and recyclable textile fibres and coatings for fishing gear and clothing.

Marine litter is not just a coastal problem; it is also found far away from people and land. The combination of plastic and fishing is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to projects and measures aiming to reverse or stop ocean pollution.

Fishing gear (especially nets) is often left behind, thrown away, or lost. Nets are particularly durable and it takes hundreds of years before they rot in the ocean, and even then, just like all other plastics, they remain as microplastic in the ocean. Clothes made of synthetic fibres, such as sportswear, cause a similar problem.

By redesigning the complete lifecycle of these textiles, this problem is being addressed from the very outset in the Glaukos project, which aims to end with two end-of-life (EOL) solutions: biodegradation and bio-recycling.

“The Glaukos project has redesigned the complete lifecycle of textiles, including the fabrication of bio-based content from renewable European resources, the development of new biopolymers with triggerable biodegradability, the development of eco-friendly fishing gear coatings with increased bio-based content, the spinning and weaving of prototypes for fishing gear and clothing, as well as the bio-upcycling of these new materials,” says Prof. Dr. Nick Wierckx, contact for the Glaukos project and head of Microbial Catalysis research group at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences – Biotechnology (IBG-1).

Project Information

The Glaukos project was successfully completed in spring 2024.

Further information

Website

Glaukos

International project page with more information on the project, project partners, and the latest news.

Online article

Glaukos in Cordis

Glaukos was one of 12 projects selected for EU funding within the Horizon programme’s results pack on ocean plastic pollution.

Institute

Biotechnology (IBG-1)

The Institute of Bio- and Geosciences – Biotechnology (IBG-1) uses microbiological, biochemical, genetic, and computational methods for the development of microbial processes for the transformation and of new biocatalysts.