TOTAL PROJECT COST – €87,967.87

IN PROGRESS

• Homegrown project
• Project Duration: January 2024 – December 2024
• Area of Interest: Plastics
• Other entities involved: GOB Menorca, Obsam, Leader Illa de Menorca, 0 Plastic Menorca

THE PROJECT

Primary Impact

Reducing pollution

Summary of the project

The funding granted by Depeche Mode via Conservation Collective to the Plastic Free Menorca Alliance, led by Menorca Preservation, will allow to continue strengthening the Action Plan for the reduction of plastic pollution in Menorca 2030. This plan sets out various actions aimed at raising awareness, promoting and encouraging the elimination of the use of plastics in Menorca in order to reduce plastic pollution in the island’s natural environment as much as possible.

Therefore, the funding received from Depeche Mode via Conservation Collective will allow us to:

• Continue to coordinate our Plastic Free Menorca Alliance, as well as monitoring past actions, offering technical advise and working on achieving a greater joint impact.
• Continue with the Plastic Free Balearics and Plastic Free Menorca certifications and recertifications: 30 new businesses + 10 recertifications.
• Raising awareness through: organising workshops, beach cleans, participating in local talks about plastic pollution, press releases, social media, Plastic Free Menorca website, interviews…
• Identify and implementation 10 new reusable beach items collections points.
• Fundraising in order to implement the further actions defined in our Plastic Free Menorca 2024 Plan, thus aligned with our PFM 2030 Strategy.
• Continue growing PescArt Menorca via:
  •  Engaging more local artisans and artists.
  • Training local artisans: marketing, online sales, sustainability.
  • Strengthening the commercialisation of the products: promote website of the project, social network, participation in trade shows, etc.
  • Exploring new ways of recycling this material (ie 3D printers through the BIT Innovation Centre of the Balearic Islands).

Environmental Focus

• Land
• Marine

Social, Economic and Cultural Outcomes

• Encouraging people to have a greater appreciation of the natural world and its value
• Encouraging governments, public institutions and media to act in ways that support the natural world
• Supporting businesses and their employees to better preserve, protect, and regenerate the natural world
• Encouraging changes in public/consumer behaviour to better preserve, protect, and regenerate the natural world;Reduced waste/better waste management
• Reduced waste/better waste management

 

ABOUT PLASTIC FREE MENORCA ALLIANCE

The Alliance

The Plastic Free Menorca Alliance is a platform created in 2020 by MeP, formed by different Menorcan entities (OBSAM, GOB Menorca, Leader Association and 0 Plastic Menorca) with an important trajectory in the protection and preservation of the environment, with the aim of joining forces to work towards a plastic free Menorca.

Since 2020 the Plastic Free Menorca Alliance has been working hard to reduce plastic pollution on the island and to raise awareness of this environmental problem.

Some of the actions we are most proud of are:

• To be advising and helping businesses to know the environmental regulations and to comply with them through Plastic Free Balearics for Hospitality businesses and the Plastic Free Menorca Commitment for other sectors.
• To draft with the IUCN the “Action Plan for Plastic Pollution Reduction in Menorca 2030”, which has defined PFM’s roadmap.
• To create the PescArt Menorca project, an initiative to recycle fishing nets that were being taken to the island’s landfill. These nets are now being turned into new commercially viable products, creating new employment opportunities based on circular economy.
• To install 11 filtered water fountains on the island to reduce the use of single-use plastic water bottles.
• To install 14 points of reuse of beach articles,a pilot test carried out in 2023, with the aim of reducing the purchase of beach products such as umbrellas, beach toys, etc. by tourists that are often abandoned on the island and thrown in the rubbish being their final destination the island’s landfill.
• To create an online map with all the resources and services available to reduce the use of plastic in Menorca (certified businesses, filtered water fountains, PescArt sales points, points of reuse of beach articles and other initiatives).
• Support innovative projects of the Alliance members’ such as the “Microplastic Watchers”, a citizen science project with schools, or the “0 Plastic Experiences”, a campaign to raise awareness among tourists visiting the island.

In addition to this, talks and outings are offered by the Alliance members to interested entities, businesses, schools, etc., as well as creating content on social networks and PFM’s website to raise awareness of the impacts of plastic pollution and, above all, to propose good practices and alternatives to plastics.

It is also our aim to create a platform, i.e. a group of organisations, associations, businesses, etc. committed to the fight against plastic pollution and to share knowledge and experiences.

Besides, the Alliance has highly trained technicians in different disciplines such as the marine environment, tourism, fauna and flora and is coordinated, both the Alliance and PescArt Menorca, by two professionals with extensive experience in project management.