Croatian InNoPlastic Week on the Island of Krk
While our Italian partners were implementing clean-up and monitoring activities in Venice and its Lagoon, a group of Croatian partners initiated a series of activities on various locations along the Adriatic coast. The so-called “Croatian InNoPlastic week” was organised between the 4th and 11th of June and coordinated by the Consortium members Ponikve Eko Otok Krk, Sensum and Probotica.
A week full of events brought together several local associations, private sector stakeholders, NGOs, public administration representatives and a special guest – the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr Zoran Milanovic.
Kicking off Croation InNoPlastic Week
The first two days included practical and educational presentations about InNoPlastic project and Ecological Observing System in the Adriatic Sea (ECOAds) as the main object of the Interreg project ECOSS (Ecological Observing System in the Adriatic Sea: oceanographic observations for biodiversity). This activity intended to demonstrate to the public how marine litter is collected, monitored and analysed. It consequently focused on how this information is integrated within the ECOAds monitoring system and TIDES (Trash Information and Data for Education and Solutions) database by Ocean Conservancy, helping to trace litter in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. TIDES is a public data system containing information about ocean trash, collected by volunteers. These citizen science data are collected during the international clean-up events and with the use of Clean Swell, Ocean Conservancy’s ocean trash data collection app.
The educational component expanded with the practical application of showcased solutions and methods. Clean-up and monitoring campaigns were organised simultaneously on the islands of Krk and Plavnik, with the former lasting three days, from 7th to 10th June. During both of these activities, participants used Empower app, which was also put to the test during the clean-up organised in Venice. These events included local sailing clubs, NGOs, high schools, port authorities and transport companies.
The third clean-up initiative was arranged at Malinska community at the island of Krk, between 9 and 10 June. This event involved various local stakeholders, like the Sailing club Lastavica, the waste management authority Dubasnica and the personnel of our project’s partners. The initial belief that there wouldn’t be too much litter to collect, changed soon after having spotted a variety of waste along the coastline: mattresses, plastic bags, utensils and boat remains have been accumulating over the years, creating contaminating dump sites that require cleaning actions.
Finally, more than 100 participants in all clean-up events collected 88 bags of waste, totalling 1,151 kg of mixed and plastic litter and 51 kg of large litter requiring special treatment.
International Conference and a visit to Ponikve headquarters
The island of Krk hosts the annual Conference on new energy solutions. This year’s topic was one of the most relevant subjects for the European and international agenda: energy transition in the context of climate change and the EU Green Deal.
The Conference welcomed the President of the Republic of Croatia Mr Zoran Milanovic, who attended the event, together with the highest level of authorities of the Municipality of Krk.
Following the Conference, Mr Milanovic visited the headquarters of Ponikve where he was introduced to its facilities and waste management activities. “During this visit, special attention was given to make Krk a zero-waste island, energetically independent and self-sufficient. We presented the InNoPlastic project and a project for a new dam that will ease the water supply on our island, which was always a problem during periods of a long drought. The President was introduced to SEEKer robot prototype, too, developed by Probotica. At the end of the visit, that lasted for more than one hour, we handed a gift to the President – our Blue Bag, used for clean-up activities, with the hope that he will also join this important cause.” – said Dejan Kosic, technical director at Ponikve Eko Otok Krk.
As a Croatian InNoPlastic week closure event, our project was presented during the Business Woom Day at Fiumanke Green Arena “Climate change and microplastic – The biggest threat to the Mediterranean Sea”.
The first “Croatian InNoPlastic week” ended with great success, receiving coverage from various local, regional and national media. In addition, HRT, the national TV station of Croatia, made a video reportage that enhanced our visibility in the Adriatic region. The next edition is programmed for 2022 when we hope that InNoPlastic partners from other countries will also be able to attend and participate.