REMEDIES

The EU-funded REMEDIES project aims to restore our seas and rivers through deploying (micro)plastic litter valorisation and prevention pathways. Project activities will revolve around monitoring and detection, collection and valorisation, and prevention and reuse of plastic waste. The REMEDIES movement is striving to co-create a plastic-conscious society by applying cutting-edge technology and circularity approaches, underpinned by a holistic citizen engagement framework. After validating the technologies in eight demonstration sites, they will be scaled up in 33 more locations across the Mediterranean, while 400 tonnes of plastic litter will be collected in the marine and riverine environment. Moreover, during this EU mission, EUR 500 000 of cascade funding will be granted to foster real zero-waste solutions with two open calls targeting five associated regions. The project is built around the three main pillars of monitoring plastic litter, its collection and valorisation and, of course, the prevention of the distribution of non-degradable plastics. We will do so by strongly building on former projects addressing these topics and by connecting to previously identified major initiatives active in this area. For us, the most promising aspect is the activation and necessary participation of citizens affected by plastic pollution directly on the shorelines. We will guide them to becoming plastic entrepreneurs with a deeply rooted knowledge base and the right tools to start their own businesses through the valorisation of collected plastic litter and the provision of zero-waste solutions to all actors. We plan to employ 4 breakthrough innovations per pillar (monitoring, collection, prevention) that are neatly interwoven, building upon each other to create an even better whole. We will test these solutions in 8 demonstration sites in 8 Mediterranean countries and after validation, scale them up in 33 more sites with the potential to be launched across the whole Mediterranean. In parallel we will run two open calls to third parties to attract more solutions for implementation following our same methodology. All-in-all, we plan to map out 170 km2 for plastic litter, reach circa 100,000 citizens, collect around 400 tons of plastic waste, and build up plastic prevention pathways through scaling and replication for an equivalent of 3,700 tons of plastic.