The Free LitterAT project, coordinated by CETMAR, brings together in an online toolkit the resources of 25 European projects to prevent and reduce marine litter
- The networking was developed in the framework of the Free LitterAT project in collaboration with the European Commission’s Pillar IV Task Force on Healthy Oceans and Resilient Coasts of the Atlantic Action Plan
- The aim is to involve key European projects in this field in assisting stakeholders to achieve marine litter-free coastal communities
CETMAR developed an online toolkit that brings together the resources of 25 European projects to prevent and reduce marine litter, help stakeholders, and achieve coastal communities free of marine litter.
This work, recently published, was developed in the framework of the Interreg Atlantic Area Free LitterAT project, focused on marine litter and coordinated by CETMAR, and in collaboration with the Healthy Oceans and Resilient Coasts Task Force of the European Commission’s Atlantic Action Plan.
With this support, the area of Control and Management of the Environment and Marine Resources of CETMAR, which depends on the Regional Department for the Sea, contacted more than 30 European projects from different programs that worked on marine litter. 25 of them collaborated in the development of this resources kit.
The document resulting from this collaboration is available on the Free LitterAT project website (https://freelitterat.eu/capitalisation/), providing policy makers, local authorities, researchers, industry, NGOs and civil society with access to key projects in the fight against marine litter and associated resources, while fostering networking.
The resources selected in this kit range from guidelines, methodologies and best practices to manuals, procedures, technological prototypes, life cycle studies, software, applications, and training and communication materials, among others.
In addition, scientific publications on: waste management and recycling, prevention of litter entering the sea, detection and monitoring, collection of marine litter (abandoned or discarded fishing gear, litter fishing programs, coastal and beach cleanup) and awareness-raising are included.
Although this action of the Free LitterAT project was promoted within the framework of the Atlantic Action Plan, it is intended to be applied to other sea basins. The dissemination is planned with the support of the participating projects and the Plan. In the future, joint actions (workshops, pilot actions, training activities) will be planned and the possibility of grouping the results of the projects will be considered to increase their impact and applicability.
The Free LitterAT project
CETMAR coordinates the European project Free LitterAT, which addresses the problem of marine litter through a holistic approach and innovative methods to prevent, monitor and reduce marine litter on the Atlantic coast. 23 organizations from Spain, France, Portugal, and Ireland make up this consortium. They are 14 partners with funding from the European Union’s Atlantic Area Transnational Cooperation Program and 9 associated entities. The Galician participation is very prominent and together with CETMAR, it counts on the participation of IEO, Intecmar and the University of Santiago.
