Pilot projects “ADOPT THE COAST” and “SUPER GOSTINCI” in the Strunjan Landscape Park

Concrete activities aimed at marine waste management.

Marine waste prevention and reduction is at the heart of the Interreg Med Plastic Busters MPAs project, which offers concrete solutions to prevent and mitigate the impact of marine litter in the form of measures in ten protected marine areas in the Mediterranean. 

As part of the project “Piloting marine litter Prevention and Mitigation Measures in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas”, supported by MIO-ECSDE from Greece, as part of the Interreg MED project “Plastic Busters” and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, pilot projects are underway:

“POSVOJI OBALO” and “SUPer GOSTINCI”.

Both activities focus on the Mediterranean coastal states’ efforts to combat marine litter pollution. The project is being managed at the Strunjan Landscape Park Public Institution, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and the TRI-NITI institute.

“ADOPT THE COAST”

The “Adopt a beach” campaign is intended for interested groups and especially educational institutions (schools). The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of the youngest about the problem of marine litter through lectures and regular cleaning and collection of data on marine litter of the “adopted” part of the coast. The collected data will also be passed on to the competent state authorities, e.g. Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Water Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. The measure is part of an action plan for the prevention and mitigation of marine litter prepared under the “Act4litter” project (Interreg MED) for specific MZOs.

The Strunjan Landscape Park Public Institution offers users aids and useful information, as well as professional support in carrying out cleaning campaigns. Anyone wishing to adopt the coast can find information on the KPS Adopt the Coast website or call 08 20 51 880.

CIGARETTE BURNS – the most common waste

As part of the Clean Coast cleaning campaign, cigarette butts are “found” in the first place among waste every year. At last year’s campaign, 20,509 cigarette butts were collected in just two hours, and these are now on display on the beach in the Strunjan Landscape Park.

The purpose of the exhibited embers is to expand the awareness that they do not belong to nature and that they need several years to decompose. Due to harmful chemicals, they are dangerous for the environment, animals and also for humans. This is one of the reasons why new cigarette butt baskets have been set up as a reminder. The bathing season is ahead of us and it is important that park visitors handle all their waste responsibly.

Participants in the project. (Foto: Andrej Rosa)

New cigarette butt baskets (Foto: Andrej Rosa)

Exhibited cigarette butts collected at the Clean Coast 2019 cleaning campaign. (Foto: Andrej Rosa)

“SUPer GOSTINCI”

The SUPer GOSTINCI activity addresses the use of disposable plastics in catering companies and started on 5 June as part of the Environmental Economy Day with a workshop “SUPer GOSTINCI: How to reduce the use of disposable plastics in catering activities”. From July 2021, the use of certain disposable plastic products will be banned in Slovenia, as well as elsewhere in Europe, and the use of others will have to be reduced (SUP Directive). The abbreviation SUP means “Single-Use Plastic” in the original.

As part of the project, caterers, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, are concluding a voluntary commitment to achieve the goals of the SUP Directive already this season. The experts of the Environmental Protection Service at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will help companies understand the SUP Directive and advise them on how to tackle this challenge. This measure is also defined as a priority action within the “Act4Litter” (Interreg MED) action plan for marine waste in the Strunjan Landscape Park, also because a large share of all waste is disposable plastic.

How much and which waste will occupy the first ten places of the most common waste after the summer season will be shown by the Clean Coast 2020 cleaning campaign, which will take place on Saturday, 19 September. Nice to meet you.

We invite everyone to “adopt” a piece of the coast and to responsibly reduce the amount of plastic waste.

Plastic Busters MPAs is a project funded under the Interreg Med program. Its aim is to maintain biodiversity and preserve natural ecosystems in pelagic and coastal marine protected areas through the consolidated efforts of Mediterranean coastal states against marine litter pollution. The project includes actions related to the entire marine waste management cycle, from monitoring and assessment to prevention and reduction. In addition, it provides for measures to strengthen networking between the coastal and pelagic marine protected areas of the Mediterranean.