The Clothes Peg Saving Our Oceans.

NONA, an acronym for No Oceans, No Air. The new ethical brand sources retired fishing gear and turns them into clothes pegs, preventing fishing nets going into landfill, being incinerated, or becoming ocean bound.

NONA is the brainchild of Alex Theodorou: “We wanted to see if it was possible to bring to market a long-lasting, useful, everyday product from waste material whilst considering the product’s full life cycle, we are striving to achieve our aim of; ‘Recycle > Make > Keep > Recycle’.

The humble clothes peg was identified by NONA as a great example of a simple, useful everyday object that often fails resulting in further peg purchases and many discarded pegs. NONA’s design team worked on the innovative and robust NONA clothes peg which is built to withstand exposure to extreme weather and prolonged sunlight, they’re durable, dependable, and long-lasting, and easier to use compared to traditional spring-loaded pegs.

NONA sources its materials from a European-based interception program which reimburses fishing communities for their retired fishing gear. “Plastic pollution is becoming a huge threat to the health of our oceans,” continues Alex, “the material comes from retired fishing gear that is destined for landfill, incineration or in some instances becoming ocean bound. By reimbursing fishing communities for old gear, we are able to support in a preventative way.”

As well as finding a use for the waste produced by retired fishing nets, NONA also wants to encourage a new generation to discover the benefits of outside line drying rather than energy-intensive tumble-drying: “On top of fighting ghost fishing gear and averting ocean plastic pollution,” continues Alex, “we wanted to make it more convenient than ever to lower your carbon footprint.”

"We know it’s not possible for everyone to line dry, but we would love to see everyone that can, drying their clothes outside when it’s dry, although that’s not always possible in the UK! Line drying has a zero-carbon footprint compared to its energy-hungry alternative, tumble drying also wears clothes out, so they’ll last much longer if you line dry, and clothes smell naturally great when they’re line dried which means no need for synthetic fragrances. And, we might be biased, but we enjoy it, it’s a good excuse to get outside, good for you, the environment, and your clothes.”

The NONA clothes pegs are available to purchase from the NONA website - www.madebynona.com/buy.