A Look Inside Hyundai’s Ocean Cleanup Partnership With Healthy Seas — CleanTechnica Field Trip

Hyundai recently invited media to see its partnership with the nonprofit Healthy Seas in action off the coast of Southern California's Channel Islands. Volunteer divers from Ghost Diving USA descended 110 feet to a shipwreck to cut loose and recover two abandoned fishing nets, sometimes called ghost nets. These nets are a real problem: an estimated 664,000 tons of them are lost or dumped in the ocean every year, where they keep trapping and killing marine life, break down into microplastics, damage boat propellers, and hurt coastal tourism.

Once hauled to shore, the nets go through a recycling chain. A company called Aquafil turns the cleaned plastic into small pellets called nurdles, which are then sent to ECONYL to be spun into nylon thread. Hyundai uses that thread to make floor mats for its IONIQ 5 and 6 electric vehicles sold in Europe, where the mats are 100% recycled nylon, including material from recovered fishing nets. The same thread is available as an option in some other Hyundai models.

This story is about a corporate sustainability partnership and a car interior material, not a home energy program. There's no rebate, deadline, or upgrade here that affects your house. If you're curious about the source, Healthy Seas coordinates both these larger net-recovery dives and smaller beach cleanups in various locations.