Fund the proof: the story in 90 seconds
Recover. Convert. Deliver. Verify. One deployment platform, many outcomes.
Solving problems with plastics
Turning plastic pollution into essential services.
We recover marine plastic and ghost gear, and turn its value into safe water, health care and coastal resilience for remote communities, with every outcome measured.
Remote coasts carry every problem at once.
Plastic and lost fishing gear wash onto the shores of some of the most isolated communities on earth. The same places wait on supply boats for fuel, walk for water, and travel days for a clinic.
- Plastic pollution on beaches and reefs
- Ghost nets that keep fishing for centuries
- Unsafe or salt-intruded drinking water
- Limited health care and long referrals
- Expensive, irregular fuel and freight
- Few local jobs and little economic leverage
The problem isn’t plastic. It’s that every solution arrives on its own.
The big idea
What if plastic had value?
Today it’s pollution. Tomorrow it’s currency. Communities collect the plastic choking their shores and trade it for services that last: safe water, health care, training and resilience.
Recover
Communities collect beach and village plastic. Our crew lifts ghost gear from places land-based systems can’t reach.
Sort & convert
Compatible plastics, mainly PP and PE, are converted into fuel ashore. Everything else is separated and logged for another pathway.
Deliver
That value helps pay for safe water, WASH programs, health care, training and the spares to keep it all running.
Verify
Calibrated sensors, geotagged logs, video and independent review tie every claim to a measurement.
Not a recycling company. Not a pyrolysis company.
Pyrolysis is the facilitator: plastic becomes fuel, fuel powers operations, operations deliver services, services create impact. The delivery model is the product.
Tell us the outcome. We configure the deployment.
A remote village might need safe water, WASH and plastic collection. A ghost-net hotspot needs recovery, dive capability and verified data. A port needs higher-throughput processing. Same deployment architecture, different technology stack.
Sovereignty, not dependency.
We pick technology that locals can run and repair, train operators, leave critical spares and hand over clearly, so communities carry on without us.
Meet Processor1
A 24-metre steel landing barge built to carry the whole model into places roads don’t reach.
Bow-ramp beach access, crew accommodation, onboard power and fuel systems, deck gantries and a moon pool for lifting nets, and room to carry containerised processing, water, health, dive, communications and disaster-response equipment. Plastic-to-fuel processing runs ashore under controlled conditions.
Processor1 proves the model. Future Processors replicate it.
What’s aboard
- PirateBeetle PB1
- Mobile pyrolysis from our partner ScarabTech. Compatible plastics are heated without oxygen and condensed into liquid fuel: roughly 84% fuel, 12% process gas and 4% carbon residue, depending on feedstock. It needs trained operators, feedstock checks and controlled conditions ashore.
- Marine recovery
- Winches, gantries, dive systems, tenders and drones for finding and lifting ghost gear safely.
- Water & WASH
- Solar reverse-osmosis units, rainwater catchment and storage, filtration and hygiene programs, chosen to suit each place.
- Energy
- Plastic-derived fuel, solar, batteries and generators sized to the job.
- Verification
- Fluidyne measurement hardware, IoT sensors and Starlink link recovery, processing and delivery into one auditable record.
- TreasureHub
- An emerging containerised, land-based format for ports, towns and islands that need processing on site.
What happens to the plastic
Not all plastic becomes fuel. Every load is sorted, weighed and logged, and each material goes to the pathway that suits it.
| Material | Pathway | Evidence so far |
|---|---|---|
| PP and PEbags, film, bunch covers, many ropes and floats | Converted to liquid fuel by pyrolysis, ashore | 1,000+ L produced in trials. Fuel and air emissions analysed by NATA-accredited laboratories. |
| Other mouldable plastics | Melted into blocks, posts and fittings | Early melt trials from Jul 2024. Water tanks and drinking-water fittings will be tested before any use. |
| PVC, contaminated or mixed material | Kept out of processing, bagged and sent to an approved disposal pathway | Rejected material is weighed and recorded, not hidden. |
What we’ve proven so far
Each part of the system has worked on its own in trials. Running them together in the field is the next proof.
1,000+ Lof fuel produced from plasticPirateBeetle processing trials since 2021, mainly PP/PE feedstock, including banana bunch-cover plastic in Sep 2024.
10 nautical milesrun by Processor1 on 100% plastic-derived fuelFirst run on fuel made from marine debris, Dec 2021.
8 tanksof a 50/50 fuel blend run through our Isuzu truckRoad trials of plastic-derived fuel in our diesel truck. Litres per tank and test conditions available on request.
Lab-testedfuel and air emissions, analysed by NATA-accredited laboratoriesWith Southern Cross University and Viva Energy (Nov 2023). NATA accredits laboratories for specific tests.
Proven in trials
- Fuel made from waste plastic
- Processor1 and a truck running on it
- Fuel and emissions laboratory testing
- Ghost-net field work under Parks Australia grant GN10027
In hand, being readied
- Processor1: survey, compliance, repairs and crew credentials
- PirateBeetle PB1 processing unit
- Measurement and IoT hardware tested with Fluidyne; feed-system upgrades scoped
Still to prove
- All systems working together in the field
- Safe water and health delivery with a community
- True cost per outcome
- Local operation and handover
Trial data and test summaries are available to partners on request. Ask for them.
Ship’s log
- Plastics Pirate Pty Ltd registered
- Joint-venture pilot partnership with ScarabTech
- Processor1, a 24 m steel landing barge, acquired as the deployment vessel
- First fuel from marine debris runs Processor1
- Exclusive distribution partnership with ScarabTech
- Parks Australia Ghost Net Solutions grant
- Southern Cross University and Viva Energy collaboration: emissions and fuels NATA tested
- Viva fuel supply MOU
- Melter’s first melt
- Banana pilot: bunch-cover plastic turned into NATA-tested fuel
- Phase III begins
- Core technology validated with the first PB1 unit; IoT hardware tested and upgrades scoped
- Three-stage validation plan set: readiness, integration, field deployment
- Processor1 readiness, then the first integrated Pacific deployment
Every claim tied to a measurement
Prevented → recovered → converted → powered → benefited. On each deployment we record plastic collected, ghost gear recovered, fuel produced, water delivered, people reached and the true cost per outcome.
The mission: first Pacific deployment
Processor1 will sail from Australia to a partner community in Vanuatu, recovering and processing ghost gear on the way, then work with the village on plastic collection, safe water, WASH and health, with every step captured as data and film for the Pirate Chronicles.
This isn’t a test of whether the machines work. We know they do. It tests whether environmental recovery can pay for essential services through a model that can be repeated.
Planned. Site and local partners to be confirmed.
Ready
Survey, flag, insurance, repairs and crew credentials.
Integrate
Recovery gear, processing, communications, sensors and data protocols working as one system.
Field test
Recover and characterise gear, deploy with one community, measure outputs and true operating cost.
Decide
Independent review and a replication blueprint: go, modify, pause or stop.
Fund the proof
USD 500,000 takes the first deployment through its validation gates.
A catalytic commitment, released against evidence at each stage. Not an unrestricted vessel refit.
Platform readiness
Survey, compliance, repairs, insurance and crew readiness for Processor1.
System integration
Install and commission the recovery, processing, communications and measurement systems.
Field validation
A 6 month pilot with one Vanuatu community, ending in an evidence package and a go, modify, pause or stop decision.
What we’ll measure
- Plastic collected and ghost gear recovered (kg)
- Fuel produced and material rejected
- Safe water delivered (L)
- People reached; WASH and health participation
- True operating cost per outcome
What partners receive
- Milestone reviews before funds are released for each stage
- Access to the field dataset: calibrated measurements, geotagged imagery and chain of custody
- Independent review of the results
- A Learning Report and replication blueprint, including what didn’t work
Get on board
Partner with us
We know the technology works. Help us prove the model.
- Funders and philanthropists
- Fund the proof. Your capital turns assumptions into evidence.
- Governments, NGOs and agencies
- Commission defined outcomes: safe water, WASH, ghost-gear recovery, resilience.
- Technology partners
- Need a trusted way to deploy your tech in remote places? Talk to us about the Pirate Chest.
- Corporates and ESG
- Verified impact data and partnership opportunities.
- Crew and volunteers
- Mariners, engineers, divers, health and WASH specialists, media.
The crew
Photo coming soon
Working with ScarabTech (pyrolysis), Fluidyne Control Systems (measurement and IoT), water-technology partners and NATA-accredited laboratories. Supported by the Parks Australia Ghost Nets grant (GN10027).