His family fished for generations. Now he's hauling plastic out of the sea.


Enaleia pays fishing crews a small monthly fee, between $30-$90 depending on how much plastic they can bring in along with their catch. The funding comes from local foundations as well as large international donors including the Ocean Conservancy, Nestlé and Pfizer. Some of the waste, including recovered fishing nets, is sold to sustainable clothing manufacturers, and the money is invested back into the fishing crews. More than half of Greece’s large-scale fishing fleet, which includes hundreds of ships, has signed up for the program.

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