Single-Use plastics (SUP) are commonly used in the tourist industry across Europe as an easy solution to serve the clients. Although this is a common practice, the extensive and uncontrolled use of Single-Use Plastics in the tourist industry has caused many issues. According to recent research, the tourism sector is responsible for a 1/3rd monthly increase in waste generation during the summertime, costing on average €1,300 per tonne. Local municipalities can be overwhelmed by the additional waste influx, leading to uncollected waste or unsafe management practices. Thus, the hospitality industry often bears the cost of clean-up to ensure locations remain attractive for tourists.[1]
For eliminating the usage of SUP items, a relevant EU legislation is in place, such as the Directive 2019/904.
Directive 2019/904 aims to “prevent and reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, in particular the aquatic environment, and on human health, as well as to promote the transition to a circular economy with innovative and sustainable business models, products and materials, thus also contributing to the efficient functioning of the internal market”. This Directive stipulates a number of actions that must be attained by each of the Member States. Article 4 relates to SUP items for which there is currently no alternative. Instead of replacing products, the Member States are required to promote the reduction in the consumption of such products. In contrast, Article 5 relates to readily available and functional alternatives to SUP products. Member States were obliged to ban the sale/use of such products by July 2021.
For assisting tourist establishments across Europe to reduce the consumption of SUP items, the SUPMed project adopted a methodology that is tested to a pilot sample of 10 hotels in Cyrus, Greece and Malta. Unique tools were developed as part of the project such as a bespoke Decision Support Tool (DST). DST provides a platform for businesses/entities to assess the environmental impact of their current SUP product selection compared with available product alternatives. The DST does not focus solely on the natural environment, but also provides a cost analysis of the switch to alternative SUP products. At the end of the piloting period, 17 tonnes of SUP items were reduced based on the bespoke actions that the pilot sample of hotels adopted, as part of the project.
The whole methodology and what the project has achieved, are described through a Best Practice Guide. This guide is available in two version (full version and a short version) for free to tourist establishments in order to benefit from the project’s findings and deliverables, to help them reduce SUP consumption and disposal. It will help ensure that their operations are in line with the requirements outlined in the EU SUP Legislation.
The best practice guide is available via https://www.supmed.eu/en/best-practice-guide
The 10 tourist establishments of the pilot sample of the project per country are:
The project “Reducing the Consumption and Disposal of Single-use Plastics in the Tourism Industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta” is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.
To keep up to date with the project, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and visit our project website.
We are pleased to invite you to the closing event of our project on the 31st of October 2023 in Cyprus, Larnaca at Radisson Beach Resort. During the event, the main outputs of the project will be presented and the participants will have the chance to speak directly to the partners and the representatives of the pilot sample in Cyprus!
For registrations: https://forms.gle/BbYKVqyN38ZbFcGh8
Since July 2020, partners from Cyprus, Greece and Malta worked together as part of the project titled “Reducing the Consumption and Disposal of Single-use Plastics in the Tourism Industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta”, also known as “SUPMed”. The Project provided innovative and sustainable solutions for tourist establishments to effortlessly reduce the consumption, disposal and impacts of Single Use Plastics (SUP) in the tourism sector in these three regions, in line with EU Directive 2019/904 (on the reduction of the impacts of plastic products). These solutions were tested by the ten tourist establishments in Cyprus, Greece and Malta through a pilot program. The results proved the effectiveness of the suggested recommendations and overall success of the project. The methodology, contribution of the pilot tourist establishments, impact of the SUP in the environment and human health and other relevant information is provided in the Best Practice Guide (available to download on line from https://www.supmed.eu/en/).
Tourist establishments across Europe can benefit from the project’s findings and deliverables to help them reduce SUP consumption and disposal, as well as guide them in a transition towards a more environmentally sustainable management style. It will help ensure that their operations are in line with the requirements outlined in the EU SUP Legislation.
The project had three main deliverables:
The DST provides a platform for businesses/entities to assess the environmental impact of their current SUP product selection compared with available product alternatives. The DST does not focus solely on the natural environment, but also provides a cost analysis of the switch to alternative SUP products.
Following on from the collection of baseline data provided by the hotel staff on the consumption of SUP items (including data from the DST), interviews with hotel guests and staff and in-house observations, a Bespoke Action Plan was drafted for each of the pilot hotels (a total of 10 plans). The Action Plans provide an overview of the SUPMed project, a summary of the results of the data collection in the hotels and a series of recommendations to help the individual hotels move away from SUP items to more environmentally friendly, yet cost effective alternatives.
The Best Practice Guide aims to provide an overview of the impacts of plastic on human and environmental health, present the results of the pilot studies, review the available SUP alternatives and their environmental impact based on the DST and replicate the recommendations made in the individual Action Plans. Finally, the report summarises the lessons learnt from the project and apply them to the tourism industry as a whole, and other relevant industries, to help the European Member States move away from SUP consumption.
To find out more about the project and the Best Practice Guide, check out the project website.
More about the project:
The SUPMed project runs until June 2023 with a total budget of €1,279,405.00. The six project partners participating in the project are Aspon Consulting Ltd as the Lead Partner (CY), Heraklion Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GR), Anelixis Development Consultants S.A. (GR), Cellock Ltd (CY), AIS Environment (MT) and the Cyprus Hotel Association (CY).
The project consortium aims to reduce the consumption, disposal and impacts of SUP in the tourism sector in these three regions, in line with EU Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the impacts of plastic products. Through this project, the partners will support samples of coastal tourist establishments in Cyprus, Malta and Greece (Crete) via pilots to move to sustainable resource-efficient business models. The establishments will identify and replace commonly-used SUP with environmentally friendlier, readily available and affordable alternatives. The pilot samples will be supported in phasing out and replacing SUP via a bespoke free web-based decision-support tool (DST) that will be developed. The DST will present viable and available alternatives to the most commonly used SUP, taking into consideration the cost and environmental impacts of each alternative across its life-cycle.
Following the completion of the pilot in each of the three regions, a single best practice guide will be developed that will present the findings of the pilots, the impacts of plastic waste on human health and the environment, how to reduce SUP in the tourism and other sectors and what environmentally friendlier and affordable alternatives are available. These guides will be disseminated to SMEs, NGOs, tourist establishments and other relevant stakeholders in the three regions and across Europe, as an additional support tool in replacing SUPs.
The 10 tourist establishments of the pilot sample of the project per country are:
The project “Reducing the Consumption and Disposal of Single-use Plastics in the Tourism Industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta” is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.
To keep up to date with the project, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and visit our project website.
On Wednesday, 2nd of November 2022, representatives of each partner of the project titled "Reducing the consumption and distribution of single-use plastics in the tourism industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta", also known as "SUPMed", met in Crete to discuss and coordinate the project. By taking into consideration that the project will be ended in less than a year (June 2023), the partnership of the project organised the on-site project meeting in order to plan the next steps of the project and most importantly, to finalise one of the most significant deliverables of the project, the Best Practice Guide.
Since due to COVID-19, the partners haven’t had the chance to meet in person in Crete and all the press events were held online, as part of meeting, the host partner, Anelixis Development Consultants S.A., organised site visits to the tourist establishments that participates in the pilot sample in Crete. During the site visits, representatives of the pilot sample discussed the so far experience of participating in the pilot sample of the project with the partners and the measures that they have applied based on the actions proposed through the action plans. One representative highlighted the importance of having the partners of the project supporting their transition from using Single-Use Plastics to environmentally friendlier and cost-efficient alternatives. Also, it has been stated that unique tools as DST can be a way to motivate tourist establishments to comply with relevant EU legislations, and further cut down their consumption of Single-Use Plastics.
SUPMed project will run until June 2023 with a total budget of 1,279,405.00 euros. The six partners taking part at the consortium of the project are Aspon Consulting Ltd – Leader Partners (CY), Heraklion Chamber (GR), Anelixis Development Consultants S.S.A. (GR), Cellock Ltd (CY), AIS Environment (MT) and Cyprus Hotel Association (CY). Upon completion of the project, the partnership of SUPMed project aims to reduce the consumption, disposal and impact of single-use plastics in the tourism sector in three Mediterranean regions (Cyprus, Greece, Malta) in line with the EU Directive 2019/904 for the reduction of the impact of plastic products.
About the project:
The project consortium aims to reduce the consumption, disposal and impacts of SUP in the tourism sector in these three regions, in line with EU Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the impacts of plastic products. Through this project, the partners will support samples of coastal tourist establishments in Cyprus, Malta and Greece (Crete) via pilots to move to sustainable resource-efficient business models. The establishments will identify and replace commonly-used SUP with environmentally friendlier, readily available and affordable alternatives. The pilot samples will be supported in phasing out and replacing SUP via a bespoke free web-based decision-support tool (DST) that will be developed. The DST will present viable and available alternatives to the most commonly used SUP, taking into consideration the cost and environmental impacts of each alternative across its life-cycle.
Following the completion of the pilot in each of the three regions, best practise guides will be developed that will present the findings of the pilots, the impacts of plastic waste on human health and the environment, how to reduce SUP in the tourism and other sectors and what environmentally friendlier and affordable alternatives are available. These guides will be disseminated to SMEs, NGOs, tourist establishments and other relevant stakeholders in the three regions and across Europe, as an additional support tool in replacing SUPs.
The project "Reducing the consumption and disposal of single-use plastics in the tourism industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta" is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.
For more information on the project, Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and visit our Project Website .
