Plastic Free Islands in the Mediterranean

This project seeks to address the little-address problem of plastic waste leakage from island states. Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year . Many efforts on minimising and mitigating impacts of plastic waste are focused on tackling the sources on continental land, rivers and coastal areas. To date, not much attention has been put on islands.

IUCN’s Global Marine and Polar Programme has been operating the Close the Plastic Tap Initiative since 2014 under five main pillars: knowledge, capacity, policy, business and innovation. This project crosscuts across these pillars to address the issue of plastic waste leakage from islands.
The purpose of this project is to demonstrate effective, quantifiable solutions to addressing plastic leakage from islands in Mediterranean countries. Key stakeholders from governments, private sector and civil society, as well as local men and women, united in a vibrant learning and leadership network, will co-generate and demonstrate demand-responsive solutions to plastic waste incorporating policy, business operations, and citizen behaviour changes. Evidence and lessons will be packaged into a scalable ‘blueprint’ for use beyond the initial 2 targeted islands in order to touch other places in the Mediterranean. Key regional bodies will be equipped with the blueprint and supported to identify further opportunities to grow its application.
The project outcomes are:
1. Target islands identified and input-output flow of plastic waste is quantified on each;
2. Three plastic waste-related sectors (tourism, fisheries, waste management) in three islands in the Mediterranean implement plastic leakage reduction measures within the project timeframe; and
3. Regional Mediterranean partners (e.g. Plastic Pollution Coalition, CSTI, Medpol) are equipped with an island plastic management blueprint to facilitate replication beyond the three target islands.