Understanding the problem
While plastic is an important material for our lives and the European economy, it is not widely recycled currently (less than 30% of plastic waste collected) and is estimated to account for over 80% of marine litter. In the last decade many resources, efforts and actions have been dedicated in EU, to the prevention of the plastic pollution and at the same time raising awareness for minimizing SUP consumption. Elaboration of projects and initiatives to minimize the risks for humans and economy present the opportunity to help these areas implement a common solution to a shared transnational challenge that can only be mitigated if adopted by as many nations as possible.
Our Mission
Our project «Reducing the Consumption and Disposal of Single-use Plastics in the Tourism Industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta» addresses the urgent EU challenge of plastics, specifically of single-use plastics (SUP). The main objective is to implement a common solution to the EU shared and urgent challenge of plastics, by creating a transnational consortium to help the tourism sector reduce consumption, disposal and impact of single-use plastics (SUP) in line with EU Directive 2019/904. Through the project, samples of coastal tourist establishments in Cyprus, Malta and Greece will be supported via pilots to move to sustainable resource-efficient business models that will identify and replace commonly used SUP with environmentally friendlier, readily available and affordable alternatives, by developing a bespoke free web-based decision-support tool (DST) to include lifecycle analysis. The expected result (outcome) is to reduce adverse effects of human activities on the environment.
Duration and Funding
The project’s duration is 36 months, and it is funded by the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation as for the priority sectors of Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy and includes nine (9) tourist establishments in Cyprus, Greece and Malta (3 in each region).