Last December, Italian scientists ran a successful experiment, converting 200 kilograms of ghost nets recovered from the seabed into enough energy to recharge an electric car for 3,000 kilometres.

It was the first implementation of a new technology called Green Plasma, which turns marine plastic debris into energy. The system is installed on a mobile van that can be moved in different areas, including near ports, islands or beaches.

This technology can process up to 100 kilograms of non-recyclable marine plastic per day, converting it into syngas – a hydrogen-rich combustible gas that can generate electricity.

Since spring 2025, Marche Polytechnic University in the city of Ancona has operated Green Plasma as Italy's first mobile and experimental system for treating marine waste – and the first of its kind globally.

Every year, around 12 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans – the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck into the water every minute – irreparably damaging the marine ecosystems.

The data from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) show that 86.5% of marine waste comes from fishing activities, including nets, lines, and traps.

So far, Europe has had no effective recycling options for this type of unsorted waste. The Green Plasma project aims to change that.

“When you remove marine waste, you don't know what to do [with it] because most of it is not recyclable and ends up in incinerators or landfills,” Francesco Regoli, professor at Marche Polytechnic University, who is in charge of the Green Plasma, told The European Correspondent.

The process starts by shredding the unsorted waste collected from the sea and putting it into a reactor. The system heats the material to over 950-1000°C, turning the waste into gas.

That gas then is used to power an electric generator to produce energy or charge batteries in electric vehicles. At the university, a small electric car already drives around campus with a sticker that reads: “Powered by plastic collected from the sea”.

Part of the project's mission is to raise awareness about the pollution caused by fishing gear. With its mobile van, the Green Plasma team plans to bring the technology directly to coastal areas, including beach clean-ups during the summer.

So far, the project has carried out 15 net removal operations in southern Italian waters. By May 2026, the team plans to continue operations to the central and northern parts of the country.

Before each recovery mission, the team conducts geophysical surveys to map the waste on the seabed, explained Massimiliano Falleri, head of the Marevivo diving division, to TEC. Professional divers then pick up the nets.

“This is a very delicate step, because we need to avoid further damage to the seabed,” said Falleri.

Not every recovered net goes into the Green Plasma experimentation, only the ones that would otherwise end up in unsorted waste.

”The nets must be made of a type of nylon that is already compromised and deteriorated, a material that cannot be recycled in any way,” Falleri explained. ”The real innovation is that the unsorted waste is instead converted into energy,” added Falleri.

Researchers believe that the technology could be widely replicated. “We aim to study the relation between different types of plastic to understand how much energy they can provide,” Regoli said.

“In the future, the system could be used to organise a regular service to recover and valorise plastic waste collected in the ports of our region, or the large quantities of agricultural nets used and discarded by local farms,” he concluded.