Target Groups
Community – Public Authorities – Entities
Pillars
Detection – Monitoring
Collection – Valorisation
Prevention – Zero Waste
Type of Litter
Beach Litter – Microplastics – Floating Plastic Hotspots
Goals Achieved Towards a Plastic-Free Future
Top tourist destination goes zero-waste
Partners involved: NTUA, ANGR, IHA, MCG
The Cyclades are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece. They include about 220 islands.
Cyclades together with the Dodecanese attract more than 12 million tourists per year, resulting in approximately 25% of Greece’s income from tourism.
The existing waste management services are struggling to cope with the large amount of plastic generation during the summer season. Plastic accumulation is also observed due to its transportation on the waves from other locations. Plastics and microplastics pose a serious threat to marine life, while they also cause the degradation of 465 beaches in the Cyclades complex, the 96 areas of NATURA 2000 and areas of special natural beauty.
REMEDIES will build on existing activities, infrastructure and communication channels developed within the projects Horizon2020 HYDROUSA and LIFE+ PAVE the WASTE. The project will build on existing activities for the cleaning of beaches and the collection of plastics. It will introduce new technologies for cleaning point sources of microplastics and for reusing glass bottles, new ways of supplying drinking water without the use of plastics.
The results and upscaling of REMEDIES will decrease the amount of plastic waste significantly. Our combined activities might reach around 20% of tourists on the Cyclades islands through uptake of zero-waste solutions in >500 bars and shops. We can prevent roughly another 140 tonnes of single-use plastics.
Inputs
Beach Clean-Ups
Removal of microplastics from conventional wastewater treatment plants
Workshops for zero-waste cosmetics
Test biodegradable fishing gear and collect feedback by fishermen
Ideas for mitigating plastic littering
Social activities in collaboration with local schools, fishermen, municipalities, NGOs
Monitor the pathways of plastics in the Aegean Sea
Deploy zero-waste cups and bottles at a beach bar in Mykonos together with green washer for water reuse
Outputs
- >97% removal of microplastics from wastewater
- Prevent the use of >30.000 single use plastic water bottles and 120.000 cups
- Deploy of reusable bottles and cups
- Collect 20.000 kg of plastic waste from beaches of at least 5 Cyclades islands
- Scan 30 km2 coastline
- Track currents for plastic hotspot identification for >10.000 km
Location
Aegean Sea
Basic data
220 islands; 2.572 km2 area, 126.786 inhabitants; 2-3M tourists / year
