MED Dé.Co.U.Plages
Méthodologies d’Economie Durable pour les Déchets Côtiers Utilisables des Plages
Metodologie di economia sostenibile per i rifiuti costieri utilizzabili dalle spiagge
Project co-financed by the European Community
MED Dé.Co.U.Plages aims to create the conditions for a greater environmental protection of the coastal areas and islands by defining harmonized practices for the prevention, reduction and reuse of plastic waste and the sustainable management of Posidonia oceanica beach casts.
The project foresees specific actions to be developed in the Egadi Islands (Italy) and in Mahdia and Kerkennah territories (Tunisia), in order to:
1) map the "hot spots" of plastic pollution and of posidonia beach casts accumulations;
2) define and test new methodologies for posidonia beach casts and banquette monitoring, based on the direct involvement of citizens and tourists (Citizen Science);
3) define management models and circular economy approaches also involving local companies and promoting the principles of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
4) test innovative models for collection (i.e. fishing for litter) and reuse of plastic waste and for sustainable management of posidonia beach casts, by applying the Ecological Beach model.
This is the first project at basin level involving actors from two different countries, actively collaborating to manage both plastic waste and posidonia beach casting with an eco-sustainable and coordinated approach.
Besides ISPRA, the partnership also includes: Ass.For.SEO (Lead Partner) and the MPA Egadi Islands in Italy, INSTM (Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer) and FST (Faculté des Sciences Mathématiques, Physiques et Naturelles de Tunis) in Tunisia.
The Project is co-financed under the European programme IEV CT Italy-Tunisie 2014-2020.
The duration of the Project is 30 months starting from January 2020.
The Coordinator of ISPRA working group is Dr. Alfonso Scarpato
*Photos byFrancesco Rende (ISPRA)