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
Wide plastic collection drones and AI learning
Saïdia is a town situated, in the North Eastern region of Morocco. The seaside town of Saïdia, with 14 km of beach and a vast tourist potential, has the ambition of rising to the rank of 3rd Mediterranean marina. Hotels, marina and golf courses have thus been built, offering tourists multiple leisure and fishing activities.
Tourism combined with urbanisation lead to extreme pollution of Saïdia, the problem does not only concern the coast, but all regions where plastic is used and deposited in the Moulouya river, and then transported towards the sea. The marina shows an increased number of docked boats each year, stressing water and other infrastructures.
REMEDIES is an opportunity for Saïdia to escape the catastrophic situation. Plastics collection on coast will be organised by the local team, involving volunteers from university and environmental association. In addition, the increase of population awareness of a zero-waste mentality in relation to the National Integrated Coastal Management Plan, the demo site in Saïdia will have a positive impact not only in this region but also in the near coastal cities (Marchica, Al Hoceima and Tanger) included in the Mediterranean basin.
Within this project an international benchmark on measures can be achieved to reduce marine pollution by plastics. This will allow the identification of a priority action plan and demonstration projects adapted to the national context. For the next 5-10 years along the Saïdia beach >360 kg of plastic will be removed every year. Further, the river cleaning system will remove roughly 40 tonnes and the marina filtration >7 kg microplastics and other pollutants per year. Through zero-waste supply chains, we expect to reach 50% of local shops and prevent another 25 tonnes of single-use plastic waste.
Inputs
Beach Clean-Ups
Wide seabed litter program should be aligned with the trawling program
Dredging and diving to collect plastic litter
Replication of river cleaning technology and marina microplastic filtration
Removal of floating litter during fishing
Underwater drone equipped with a camera and a microplastic sampling unit
Connection to zero-waste supply chains
Outputs
- >40 plastic litter collection campaigns
- >200 kg per campaign
- 8T of plastic removed
Location
Saïdia, NorthEast of Morocco
Basic data
20 km2 area, 150.000 tourists use every year. Partners involved: The Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, Waters and Forests, Berbot cooperative, River Cleaning.
