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Description
Lay the foundations for a memorandum of understanding for the plastic ecosystem of the island of Porto Santo - collection of basic (reference) data on marine waste and litter and identification of critical areas (hotspots); optimization of waste management through the mobilization of all agents for a community management plan; and a communication and awareness campaign to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic and plastic waste that ends up in the sea. 1 job created. 1.44 Tons of recycled plastic. 36 prevention and awareness campaigns supported. 25 voluntary actions supported
Summary of project results
The diversity and beauty of the landscapes of Porto Santo Island justified the application by the Regional Government of Madeira, delivered in September 2019, for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, with the intention to ake the island a differentiated and pioneering territory in terms of environmental sustainability.This project aimed to contribute to the development, differentiation and enhancement of the island of Porto Santo, with the main objective of protecting the island''s marine environment, through joint efforts made by the main public and private actors regarding the disposal of plastic waste from nature and the promotion of its circularity. It is intended to lay the foundations for a memorandum of understanding for the plastic ecosystem of Porto Santo Island.
The project developed in three phases:
PHASE 1 - a collection of a baseline (referential) data on marine waste and litter and identification of hotspots. This phase aimed to ensure continuous monitoring and evaluation of the situation of plastic waste produced on the island of Porto Santo. Information gathering should seek to design solutions and measure progress towards our goals, including: • Determine the volume and types of plastic waste and how it ''flows'' around the island based on existing information: • Identify which plastic items are found at sea and highlight the Porto Santo marine litter hotspots.
PHASE 2 - optimizing waste management by mobilizing all actors for a Community management plan. This phase focused on the development of a community management plan, which aimed to bring together a set of coordinated actions among all island actors: fishermen, authorities, businesses, schools and other public services, including testing innovative collection and collection mechanisms, namely the recovery of plastic waste through a selective system of beverage cans and bottles, thus generating a higher reuse value for these materials. Two types of events were held to define and implement this plan: - Public participation sessions to involve all stakeholders in the project, including sharing best practices through the presentation of international success stories, to lay the foundations for the development of the Community Management Plan; - Community Management Plan presentation session and letter of commitment for stakeholder engagement.
PHASE 3 - A communication and awareness campaign to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic and plastic waste that ends up at sea. In this phase a communication campaign was developed that acted on two fronts: communication actions on the island that will link all the initiatives created to mobilize the resident population - including companies, authorities and the school community (through cleanup actions, awareness raising and educational activities) and a campaign aimed at tourists arriving on the island - with actions at the Port of Funchal and Porto Santo Airport to collaborate to eliminate the disposal plastic waste in the ocean, making the island, as much as possible, ''plastic free''.
This project developed a preliminary study to determine the current situation in relation to sources, production, composition and waste management, as well as monitoring the waste stream through a garbage collection log table, with indicators used during beach cleanings. A web application was created to identify critical waste concentration sites (hotspots) in Porto Santo. A voluntary plastic delivery machine that promotes and encourages plastic recycling on the island was installed. It was developed the 2020/2025 Community Management Plan for prevention and awareness-raising for the reduction of marine litter. A seal for entities that sign the commitment letter of involvement with the Community was created and atributed to several entities. The project also strengthened and extented the ''Amigos do Mar'' initiative for marine litter collection. Several meetings and contacts were held with local fishermen, tour operators and entrepreneurs working on the coast to collect and identify plastic waste at sea and in the dunes and the Communicatio Campaign “Ending plastic in the Porto Santo Sea”.
By developing the monitoring activities (including the beach cleaning protocol and the monitoring report), the project contributed to the achievement of objective n. 1 of the Program: “Increase the application of Circular Economy principles in specific sectors”. The cleaning of beaches and the development of the Community Management Plan contribute directly to Result 1.3 of the Program, through the promotion of the Circular Economy through the “Reduction of plastics in the oceans, from land activities”.