Serge Dal Farra, Global Marketing Director at Total Lubmarine, explains why the lubricants business has decided to supply Plastic Odyssey for its recycling mission to combat plastic pollution – a journey that will see the vessel and its crew sail across 3 continents and reach 30 cities.
Total Lubmarine is delighted to announce the beginning of a new adventure with Plastic Odyssey – a "flagship" of ocean protection representing a catalyst in the fight against plastic pollution. It is a real-life R&D floating field station for researchers, engineers, and scientists. In addition to carrying out a technical-socio-economic inventory of pollution, one of its missions is to document proven solutions to deal with them.
With over 200m² of technical space and a loading capacity of around 20 tons of equipment, the vessel hosts several technologies, destined to be tested in the most remote areas. It is equipped with open source technologies that help to restore the value of plastic waste and has a fleet of machine tools for processing new pieces and developing prototypes. The vessel offers a dedicated exhibition facility to host conferences for demonstrations.
As a business which has a leading role to play in the supply of lubricants globally for the shipping and maritime industries, we are delighted to be in a position to provide Plastic Odyssey with our products. We see this initiative as a positive step toward zero plastic and fully endorse the approach being made on how to recycle plastics in developing countries.
Following 18 months of vessel updates and refits, including three months of dry-docking in the port of Dunkirk, the vessel will be launched officially on June, 2021. The initiative led by Merchant Marine officers will see the research vessel also promote plastic recycling technologies.
Once the vessel departs from Marseilles, Plastic Odyssey will embark on a 3-year world tour as an ambassador for waste reduction and recovery - an expedition across 3 continents that will reach areas most affected by plastic pollution. The world tour includes Africa, across Asia and South America.
Total Lubmarine is supplying lubricants to support the operation of Plastic Odyssey, including its main engines and operating equipment. The contribution extends to dedicated technical services and support.
Total Lubmarine’s supply of the Plastic Odyssey initiative represents a further step in Total’s environmental focus following recent Group announcements, including that we are
- Founding member of a new global alliance to end plastic waste - the cross value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste, which is currently made up of nearly thirty member companies located throughout the world, and has already committed over $1.0 billion with the goal of investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. The Alliance will develop and bring to scale solutions that will minimize and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy.
Dal Farra says: “We are excited about the impact Plastic Odyssey will make and its approach to research, global recycling processes, and knowledge-sharing, to better help communities understand the importance of reducing to zero the amount of plastic thrown in to our environments on land and at sea. We wish the team every success in the months and years ahead.”
Discover more on Plastic Odyssey.
