Original post on TreeHugger
If your family loves playing board games during the holidays, then you should check out this eco-friendly update on an old classic. Jenga Ocean is played the same way as regular wooden Jenga, except its blocks are made entirely from recycled plastic that comes from fishing nets.
The nets are sourced through a Chilean program called Net Positiva, launched by skateboard company Bureo that wanted to use ocean plastic for its skateboards and sunglasses. (We wrote about that earlier this year.) Now, Net Positiva is selling its plastic to other companies, including the creators of Jenga, Pokonobe Associates.
The fishing net recycling process is straightforward:
“The old nets are gathered and cleaned by local partners, then taken to a factory for mechanical shredding. They are melted and turned into plastic pellets, at which point they are no different from virgin pellets.”
Each block of Jenga Ocean features illustrations of sea creatures that are at risk of entanglement in rogue fishing nets, a.k.a. ghost nets. There are many of these nets in the ocean, making up 10 percent of plastic waste, and they can drift for years, entangling an average of 30 to 40 sea creatures per net. These animals, which include sharks, turtles, seals, whales, and dolphins, die of starvation or suffocation, unable to reach the surface.
To make each Jenga Ocean game, 25 square feet of nets, weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs), are used. All packaging is 100 percent recycled and recyclable. There are ‘special edition’ rules that provide background information on ocean plastic pollution. The hope is that “players will gain an understanding of how discarded nets are harming marine animals and learn about what they can do.”