Marine waste degrades sharply in deep-sea environments, making mechanical recycling difficult. The OCEANZYME project is investigating new enzyme-based recycling solutions.

Its approach combines metagenomic analyses, enzymatic characterisation and molecular simulations, and the isolation of bacteria with functional degradation capabilities. The aim is to give value to marine litter collected by fishers and explore the application of the resulting products in sectors such as fisheries and aquaculture.

Passive fishing campaigns, which catch litter rather than fish, will be carried out in two of Spain’s five marine regions where average densities range from 40 to 300 items per km². The plastic waste collected will be characterised to analyse its associated microbial communities through metagenomics. Pure culture isolations of bacteria with the potential to degrade different plastic compounds will be carried out. Enzymes with degradation potential will be identified, modelled in 3D together with the plastic substrates, produced and tested to validate their possible use in enzymatic recycling applications.

The initiative will run from 2026 to 2028, and is being carried out by a consortium comprising the Plastics Technology Centre AIMPLAS, the Institute of Marine Sciences, and the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia of the CSIC, coordinated by the Vertidos Cero Association. It is co-funded by the EU through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.