From a seal found entangled in a ghost net found on a Cornish beach to Crafted Sheffield Pen Knife
The Story of a Cornish seal rescue, recycled fishing net and a very different kind of sustainable product.
A young grey seal.
A 30.7-metre fishing net.
A marine wildlife rescue.
And eventually, a limited-edition Sheffield-made pen knife.
This is the story behind one of our most unusual Ecotribo products, and how a piece of fishing gear that once threatened marine life was recovered, processed and transformed into something designed to last.
It is a story about ghost nets, marine conservation, recycled ocean plastic, British craftsmanship and giving waste a second life.
Most importantly, it is a story that begins with a seal.
A seal trapped in a ghost net and what happened next.
In Cornwall, a young grey seal was discovered entangled in a huge mass of fishing net at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth.
Members of the public raised the alarm and trained responders from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) attended the scene.
The seal was tightly entangled in the net.
The rescue team carefully worked through the fishing gear, cutting the strands away piece by piece until the animal was finally freed.
Thankfully, the seal was assessed and found to be in good health before being released back into the sea.
But the scale of the fishing gear left behind was extraordinary.
Once unravelled, the net measured 30.7 metres long and weighed 23.5kg.
According to BDMLR, it was the largest single item of pollution they had freed a live seal from.
The rescue saved an animal.
But it also highlighted another problem.
What happens to the fishing gear after it has been removed?
What is a ghost net?
A ghost net is fishing gear that has been lost, abandoned or discarded in the marine environment.
Although it is no longer being used by fishermen, it doesn’t simply disappear.
Fishing nets and other gear can continue to move through the ocean or become caught around rocks, reefs and other structures.
Marine animals can become entangled in them.
That can include seals, dolphins, turtles, seabirds and other wildlife.
This is why recovering ghost fishing gear matters.
Removing the gear from the marine environment can remove a continuing source of risk.
And that is where this particular ghost net began its next chapter.
From Cornwall to Ecotribo
After the rescue, the recovered fishing net was sent to Ecotribo.
For us, this wasn’t just another piece of plastic waste.
It had provenance.
We knew where it had come from.
We knew why it had been recovered.
And we knew that the material had already been part of an important marine wildlife rescue.
Our job was to see whether we could give it a useful second life.
We cleaned and processed the recovered material before transforming it into recycled plastic material suitable for manufacturing.
The objective wasn’t to make something that simply looked recycled.
It was to actually use recovered material that had already existed in the marine environment.
That’s the difference we care about.
It protects wild life and removes waste from our environment preventing it from breaking down or ensnaring animals.
How do you recycle a ghost net?
Recovering fishing gear is only the beginning.
Marine plastic can arrive dirty, tangled, wet, salty and contaminated with sand, organic matter and other debris.
At Ecotribo, recovered nets and marine ropes are cleaned, sorted and processed before being transformed into usable recycled plastic material.
Depending on the material, recovered coastal plastics can be shredded and processed into sheets or other forms that can then be machined or manufactured into our new recycled ocean plastic products.
The process turns a difficult waste stream into a usable material.
In this case, the material had a very specific destination.
A knife handle.
From Ghost Net to Pen Knife
We wanted to create something that matched the story behind the material.
Something useful.
Something made to last.
And something that brought together two very different kinds of British craftsmanship.
The recovered ghost net material was processed by Ecotribo and transformed into knife handles.
The blades were made in Sheffield, one of Britain’s historic centres of cutlery and knife manufacturing.
The result is our Recycled Ghost Net Pen Knife.
A Sheffield-made pen knife with a handle created from recovered fishing gear.
Old material.
New purpose.
Traditional craftsmanship.
Modern recycled material.
Marine conservation.
Product design.
All in one beautiful object.
Why make a knife from recycled fishing nets?
Because sustainability shouldn’t mean buying something simply because it is labelled “eco”.
We want our products to be things people genuinely want to own.
Useful objects.
Well-made objects.
Objects with a story.
A good sustainable product should have a reason to exist beyond its environmental credentials.
That’s why we combine recovered materials with skilled manufacturing and thoughtful design.
The result is something that can be used for years rather than something designed to be disposable.
The Ghost Net Pen Knife is particularly suited to people who love the outdoors, British craftsmanship, the coast, surfing, hiking, sailing, camping or simply well-made everyday tools.
It also makes a distinctive sustainable gift for someone who cares about the ocean.
Every handle carries a piece of an amazing story of coastal regeneration
Recovered plastic isn’t necessarily perfectly uniform.
That’s one of the characteristics that makes it interesting.
That makes it beautiful.
The recycled ghost net material can contain variations in colour, texture and appearance.
Those characteristics become part of the finished handle.
Rather than hiding the history of the material, we embrace it.
The marks and variations are reminders that this wasn’t manufactured from virgin plastic.
It came from a material that had already had a life. A life worth continuing. A world worth protecting. Thats why we choose recycled materials over virgin materials.
And in this case, that previous life was part of a marine wildlife rescue.
From marine pollution to British Craftmanship.
There is something powerful about that transformation.
A material that was once a potential hazard to marine life becomes part of an object designed to last.
The journey looks something like this:
FISHING GEAR
↓
MARINE POLLUTION
↓
SEAL ENTANGLEMENT
↓
BDMLR RESCUE
↓
RECOVERED GHOST NET
↓
ECOTRIBO PROCESSING
↓
RECYCLED MATERIAL
↓
SHEFFIELD CRAFTSMANSHIP
↓
GHOST NET PEN KNIFE
The material hasn’t simply been recycled.
Its story has changed.
And the Strory gives back
We wanted the project to support the organisation that helped begin this story.
BDMLR’s trained responders were there when the seal needed help.
So for this special edition, £10 from every knife sold is donated to British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
That means the material recovered from the rescue helps support the organisation whose work made the rescue possible.
The connection is simple:
A seal was rescued.
The net was recovered.
Ecotribo recycled the material.
Sheffield craftsmanship turned it into a knife.
And every sale helps support marine wildlife rescue.
Only 20 knives have been made in this batch
This isn’t an mass produced product line. These are crafted with love and care for people and planet.
The recovered material from this particular rescue is limited, so we’ve created a very small edition of just 20 Ghost Net Pen Knives.
Each knife contains material connected to this particular recovery story. That makes this more than a sustainable product. It’s a small piece of marine conservation history. A piece of recovered fishing gear transformed into something useful.
WHAT MAKES THIS A SUSTAINABLE KNIFE?
The sustainability story isn’t based on one claim. It comes from several parts of the product journey.
RECOVERED MATERIAL
The handle material comes from recovered fishing gear rather than newly produced virgin plastic.
WASTE DIVERSION
Material that had become marine waste is processed for a new use. Usually these materials have ended up in landfill or incineration causing harm long after it is 'processed'.
LONG-LIFE PRODUCT
A pen knife is a practical tool designed to be kept and used rather than disposed of after a single use. We hope our knives will be passed down from generation to generation.
BRITISH CRAFTSMANSHIP
The knife is made in Sheffield, connecting the recycled material with an established British manufacturing tradition we want to keep alive. Our master cutlers are part of a glorious crafting past we refuse to see die. Like our marine animals we are determined to see them protected and ensure they flourish.
MARINE CONSERVATION
£10 from every knife sold from this special edition goes towards BDMLR and the amazing work they do. We believ products and business can do good and that is always been our mission at Ecotribo. We are determined to demonstrate that business can help nature and protect people and planet.
WHAT IS ECOTRIBO?
Ecotribo is a UK company focused on recovering, processing and reimagining coastal and marine plastic and working with new sustainable materials and processes.
We work with recovered materials including ghost fishing gear, nets, ropes and other coastal plastics.
Rather than treating recovered material as the end of a story, we look for ways to turn it into useful products and materials.
Our work spans recycled plastic products, sheets, medals, furniture, trophies, plant pots and knives.
We call our approach Ecotraceability®.
The idea is simple:
Know where the material came from.
Know what happened to it.
Know what it became.
We believe sustainability works better when the story is transparent.
Why Ghost Net recycling matters
The world’s fishing industry uses enormous quantities of fishing gear.
When equipment becomes lost or abandoned, it can become marine debris.
Ghost fishing gear is particularly problematic because nets can continue to interact with marine life even after they have left active use.
Recovering this material therefore has two potential benefits.
First, it removes material from the marine environment. Protecting wildlife and preventing that plastic from breaking down into mirocplastics.
Second, recycling the recovered material creates an opportunity to keep existing plastic in circulation rather than producing new material for every application.
That doesn’t mean recycling solves marine plastic pollution.
It doesn’t.
The better outcome is always to prevent pollution in the first place.
But where difficult marine waste already exists, recovering and reusing it can be part of the solution. Our mission is to start conversations about all the exciting ways we can help our planet and wild spaces through care, environmental stewardship, technology and engineering.
A SECOND LIFE FOR A GHOST NET
The original purpose of this net was fishing.
Its second chapter was much darker.
It became marine pollution.
It became a danger to a seal.
Then people intervened.
BDMLR rescued the animal.
The net was recovered.
And eventually, it arrived at Ecotribo.
Now part of that same material has a completely different purpose.
It has become a knife.
A small crafted object.
But a very big story.
A story that starts a chain reaction.
We believe every positive action, starts conversations, creates hope and inspires change.
From a life-threatning trap to a second chance.
The most important part of this story will always be the rescue.
The knife comes afterwards.
But that is exactly why we wanted to make it.
Because sometimes the most meaningful sustainable products aren’t the ones with the biggest environmental claims.
They’re the ones where you can trace the journey. You can point to the material.
You can tell the story.
You can explain who recovered it.
You can explain who processed it.
You can explain who made it.
And you can show where part of the money goes.
This knife has a chain of provenance that starts on a beach in Cornwall.
It passes through a marine wildlife rescue.
It comes to Ecotribo.
It is transformed from ghost fishing gear into recycled material.
It goes to Sheffield.
And it comes back as a knife.
From Ghost gear .
To great British craftmenship.
Only 20 have been made from this particular recovered material.
£10 from every knife sold goes to BDMLR.
If you want a British-made knife with a genuine recycled-material story, this is a very special piece.
Recovered from the coast. Recycled by Ecotribo.Made in Sheffield. Created to last. Reimagined with purpose.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is a ghost net?
A ghost net is fishing gear that has been lost, abandoned or discarded in the marine environment. It can continue to entangle marine wildlife and contribute to marine plastic pollution.
What happened to the ghost net used in this knife?
The fishing net was recovered in Cornwall after a young grey seal became entangled in it. BDMLR responders attended the rescue and carefully removed the net from the animal.
How large was the ghost net?
BDMLR reported that the recovered net measured 30.7 metres long and weighed 23.5kg.
Was the seal rescued?
Yes. The young seal was successfully freed, assessed and released safely back into the sea.
Who recovered the ghost net?
The net was recovered following the seal rescue involving trained responders from British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
What did Ecotribo do with the ghostnet?
Ecotribo cleaned and processed the recovered fishing net and transformed the material into recycled plastic suitable for use in the knife handles. Ecotribo process all the material on site and manufacture in the UK as this means there are less co2 emissions and no nurdles falling overboard when materials are transported overseas.
What is the Ecotribo Ghost Net Pen Knife made from?
The handle is made from recycled HDPE material processed from recovered ghost fishing gear. The knife is made in Sheffield from carbon steel.
Where is the Ecotribo Ghostnet knife made?
The pen knife is made in Sheffield, UK with the ghost nets processed into sheets at Ecotribo HQ in Chivenor, North Devon, UK. The cut materials are then sent to Sheffield to be crafted into our special pen knives by our master cutlers who have decades of experience creating knives.
Is this a recycled ocean plastic knife?
The handle uses recycled material from fishing gear recovered from the marine/coastal environment. We describe it specifically as recycled ghost net material because its provenance is known to come from an abandoned fishing net found on a beach. 'Ocean plastics' generally applies to all plastics found in a marine environment including harbours whereas ‘GhostNets’ are found abandoned and generally harder to process due to being found in hard to reach locations rather than industrial harbour locations. Importantly Ghost Nets protect wildlife in these hard to reach locations.
How many knives were made?
This special edition BDLMR x Ecotribo Ghostnet Knife edition consists of just 20 hand crafted knives. Each knife comes with a card carrying its Provence and number.
How much money goes to BDMLR?
£10 from every knife sold from this special edition will be donated to British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
Is every ghost net knife handle identical?
No. Recycled material can have natural variations in colour, texture and appearance. These variations are part of the character of working with recovered material. These are not virgin plastics so will have character and imperfections that make it unique and special and tell it’s powerful story.
Is this an eco-friendly knife?
The knife incorporates recovered fishing gear into its handle rather than using virgin plastic for that component. By recycling these materials this we save huge amounts of C02 compared to virgin plastics. This has been documented as up to 80% in savings compared to virgin materials. The product is designed as a durable, reusable tool. We prefer to explain the specific environmental attributes rather than make a broad unsupported claim that a product is simply “eco-friendly.” It’s important to ask your manufacturer the details rather than getting broad vague claims so please ask if you have further questions.
Who makes recycled ghost net products in the UK?
Ecotribo is a UK company that recovers, processes and transforms coastal and marine plastic, including recovered fishing nets and ropes, into new products and materials.
Where can I buy a recycled ghost net knife?
The limited-edition Ecotribo Ghost Net Pen Knife is available directly from Ecotribo while the 20-piece edition lasts. We make unique editions so stay tuned via our newsletter for the latest releases.
THE STORY BEHIND THE MATERIAL
This is what makes recovered materials different.
We know where this material came from.
We know why it was recovered.
We know what happened next.
And we know what it became.
That’s what we mean by Ecotraceability®.
Because the future of sustainable products shouldn’t just be about making claims. It should be about being able to tell the story.
RECOVERED.
RECYCLED.
REIMAGINED.
ECOTRIBO.
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