Discover the achievements of the 2014-2020 NPA projects

Seven years of cooperation between people, communities, and organisations across thousands of kilometres made a difference in the Northern Periphery and Arctic regions.

Browse the NPA map of results to discover our stories of cooperation. Pick a dot from the map and scroll down to read  about people who have met similar minded colleagues and together found solutions for their shared challenges.

Content from Host maps.google.com has not been loaded as functional cookies with transatlantic data exchanges have not been enabled.

Privacy Settings Load Content Now

Use the +/- buttons in the top left corner of the map to zoom in/out or click on the regions to display the NPA project stories.

Back to list

Re-using plastic fibres

Plastic fibres reinforcing building materials

Greenland imports most construction materials. At the same time, used fishing gear piles up in local harbours. The Arctic Technology Centre (ARTEK) in Sisimiut investigated whether the discarded fishing nets and ropes could be used to strengthen concrete. The results showed that while it is possible, it is hard to separate these two materials for recycling. The researchers are now testing a new idea of reusing plastic fibres in adobe bricks. Since Greenland has its own clay deposits from glacial rivers, the production of adobe bricks reinforced with plastic fibres could be a cheap and available alternative to some of the imported construction materials.

 

Lisbeth Ottosen

the Arctic Technology Centre

In the Circular Ocean project it was shown that the plastic fibres could replace virgin fibres in preventing cracking of newly cast concrete. A new idea was formed on basis of the properties of the fishing net fibres, which is currently investigated in the NPA project Blue Circular Economy, and this is to use the fibres in adobe bricks for improving the technical post-crack performance.