Plastic pollution remains one of the most urgent environmental challenges of our time. Every year, over 400 million tones of plastic are produced globally, according to the UN Environment Programme, with a large share ending up in landfills and oceans. Among the most persistent forms of waste are discarded fishing nets and automotive components made from Polyamide 66 (PA-66), commonly known as Nylon-66 — a high-strength engineering thermoplastic that has long been difficult to recycle effectively.

The Challenge of PA-66 (Nylon-66) Waste

PA-66 is used widely in demanding applications because of its excellent mechanical strength, thermal resistance and durability. These same features however make it quite difficult to recycle effectively: the high molecular weight, strong hydrogen-bonding between chains, and frequent contamination with additives or composite materials all complicate re-processing. As a result, much PA-66 ends up as waste, contributing to environmental burdens and missing out on circular-economy potential. Research reviews indicate that less than 10 % of many plastics are successfully recycled on a large scale Refer.

Diagram showing the upcycling of PA-66 nylon waste (fishing nets and automotive parts) in a lab, transformed into durable civil infrastructure products like a blue park bench, gray pavement tiles, and an orange road barrier. — From Ocean to Opportunity: IISc’s innovative chemical process converts hard-to-recycle PA-66 nylon from marine and auto waste into a high-performance, reprocessable polymer for infrastructure use.

Detailed scientific graphic illustrating the chemical upcycling process of discarded PA-66 fishing net waste into a vitrimerized polyamide filament suitable for FDM 3D printing, alongside images of a final printed product. — From Ocean to Opportunity: IISc’s innovative chemical process converts hard-to-recycle PA-66 nylon from marine and auto waste into a high-performance, reprocessable polymer for infrastructure use.

A Novel Breakthrough from IISc

Recent work from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Department of Materials Engineering (MatE), offers a promising new route. According to an IISc press release dated 22 October 2025, researchers have developed a rapid chemical up-cycling process that transforms PA-66 waste (including fishing-net and automotive-part sources) into a recycled nylon material with preserved—and in fact enhanced—properties. Indian Institute of Science

Key features of their process include:

Melting the PA-66 waste, and introducing a chemical cross-linker (melamine) together with a catalyst.
A reaction of transamination (i.e., amide-exchange) that proceeds in less than two minutes, making it compatible with high-throughput industrial extruders.

The end material demonstrates strong mechanical performance and remains robust after three re-processing cycles—a significant achievement in recycled engineering polymers.

Professor Suryasarathi Bose, corresponding author, described the mechanism with a vivid analogy: “Imagine taking a noodle strand. If you stir it too much, you are going to break it into smaller and smaller fragments. But if all those fragmented threads can be stitched together into a new molecule … you first deconstruct and then reconstruct the same noodle strand, but now with improved properties”

Why This Matters for Civil Engineering & Infrastructure

The value of this innovation is not just in recycling plastic—its potential lies in creating high-value, performance-grade materials from waste streams. The recycled nylon yielded by the IISc process is notably strong and rigid; the researchers are exploring civil-infrastructure applications such as park benches, road dividers or pavement tiles.

For infrastructure professionals, this means:

Harnessing a secondary raw material that reduces reliance on virgin petro-derived polymers.

The potential to embed recycled high-performance plastics into structural or semi-structural elements (e.g., modular benches, outdoor furniture, non-load-bearing panels, recycled tiling).
A shorter conversion time (under two minutes) suggests feasibility of scale-up and integration into existing polymer-manufacturing/extrusion lines.
A circular-economy model: fishing nets and automotive parts (traditionally difficult to recycle) become feedstock → high-performance nylon → infrastructure products.

Bridging Academia to Commercial Impact

IISc emphasizes the translational nature of the work: Professor Bose is co-founder of the startup VOiLA3D, which is designing products using the recycled PA-66 material. According to the press release, 3D-printed objects (including a chair and even a speedboat) have been produced using the recycled nylon feedstock.

This demonstrates a direct pathway from academic innovation → startup/commercialisation → infrastructure-relevant applications.

The Larger Context: Towards a Circular Economy

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that global plastic production exceeds 430 million tones annually. Indian Institute of Science Marine plastic pollution remains especially acute: discarded fishing gear is among the deadliest forms of marine litter, entangling wildlife and entering food-chains. A technology that can convert these hard-to-recycle plastics into high-value materials provides both an environmental and economic incentive for collection, sorting, and reuse.

More broadly, research reviews highlight that chemical recycling and up-cycling of plastics (rather than just mechanical re-melting) are viewed as essential enablers for a true circular economy of polymers.

Caveats & Considerations

While this development is exciting, a few points for the civil-engineering reader to keep in mind:

The IISc work is currently described in a press release. It references a publication in the Chemical Engineering Journal (2025) titled “From ocean to opportunity: Up-cycling fishing net waste into high-performance, reprocess able nylons”. Indian Institute of Science Access to full peer-review data (mechanical property tables, long-term durability, weathering resistance, fire performance, etc.) will be key for structural/infrastructure applications.

Civil-infrastructure materials often require additional certifications (UV resistance, flame retardance, creep under load, long service life, exposure conditions). The performance of this recycled nylon in such contexts is still emerging.
Collection and sorting infrastructures (for fishing nets, automotive PA-66 scrap) remain a bottleneck in many regions—including India. For the material to scale, supply-chain logistics must keep pace.
Cost competitiveness versus virgin nylon (and versus other recycled plastics) remains to be demonstrated at commercial scale. While the sub-two-minute reaction time suggests throughput is feasible, economic modelling (capital cost, catalyst/cross-linker cost, feedstock cleanliness) must be established.

What This Means for Civil Studies and Infrastructure Practitioners

Innovation adoption: Infrastructure firms, polymer-component manufacturers, and 3D-printing specialists should monitor this technology closely. Early-stage adoption (for non-critical structural elements) could position firms ahead of the curve.
Material specification opportunities: This could open new specification paths: e.g., using recycled PA-66 for outdoor furniture, modular paving tiles, traffic separators, park fixtures—applications where durability + moderate structural performance are needed, but regulatory hurdles are less strict than for major building load-bearing elements.
Sustainability reporting & circular economy credentials: Infrastructure projects increasingly demand circular-economy metrics. Using recycled engineering-grade polymers derived from ocean/fishing-waste streams carries a strong environmental story.

Design research & collaboration potential: Academic-industry-government collaborations could investigate long-term behaviour of the recycled material in real-world civil infrastructure (weathering, fatigue, maintenance, end-of-life further recycling).
Regional relevance for India: Since IISc is based in India, there is strong potential for this technology to be deployed locally—reducing plastic leakage into Indian waterways, creating waste-collection jobs, and supplying domestic recycled-engineering-polymer feedstock for infrastructure projects.

Summary

The IISc MatE team’s development of a rapid chemical up-cycling process for PA-66 waste is a significant step forward. It addresses a widely acknowledged difficulty in plastic recycling—turning a traditionally hard-to-recycle engineering polymer into a reprocess able, high-performance material. For civil infrastructure, the implications are compelling: recycled nylon feedstock could be incorporated into durable, value-added products, supporting both material circularity and environmental goals.

As the technology matures and full peer-reviewed data become available, infrastructure practitioners should consider how this fits into their material-specification, procurement, sustainability and design frameworks. It represents not just waste-diversion, but the creation of a new material pathway — from ocean/fishing waste to high-performance nylon components for built environments.