The problem:

Steel objects on oil rigs and boats need to be repainted, but they rust. Before repainting them, the rust is removed via high pressure water. It's full of harmful chemicals and micro plastics which end up in the ocean. Half of all paint is made of plastic. When the old paint is blasted off, it breaks down, and the plastic becomes micro plastics.

While this problem may seem small or insignificant, it is far from it. The current annual shipping trade is worth over 14 Trillion dollars. Systemic management changes to harmful practices within maritime industries has huge potential to reduce the plastics that enter the Ocean.

Pinovo supplies innovative and patented technology for dust-free abrasive vacuum blasting of industrial surfaces. Settled in 2010 as a joint venture with Shell, Pinoval aims to stop paint microplastics entering the ocean.

Pinoval came up with a blasting system with a vacuum attached to it, meaning all the waste is captured. Inside the machine, it separates the grit (used for blasting) and the waste (full of microplastics). The grit can then be reused, and the waste can be safely disposed of.

Their objectives are threefold:

1. Prevent harmful waste and microplastics from paint going into the ocean

2. Lower CO2 emissions

3. Promotes employer safety, the blasting process is a pretty difficult and harmful job, but with the vacuum it is much safer.

Copyright / source: Pinovo