Plastic pollution poses an increasing threat worldwide every year, seriously threatening the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean in particular. The main reason for this problem is that a large portion of the plastics produced worldwide are single-use. While over 500 million tons of plastic are produced each year, more than half of this consists of products that are used only once. These products, which have no chance of being recycled, are usually directed to waste collection sites and ultimately accumulate in the seas and oceans. The “Plastic-Free Shores, Plastic-Free Waters” project, which was launched in 2023 to raise awareness of these environmental problems caused by single-use plastics and to develop solutions, continued with important events in the summer of 2024.
Collaborative Effort
The ‘Take Care of Your Beach’ Project, which was initiated by Foundation for Environmental Education in Turkiye (TÜRÇEV) in 2010, was renewed as “Plastic-Free Shores, Plastic-Free Waters” in 2023 with the collaboration of TÜRÇEV, Ecological Research Society and Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The project, which was expanded and continued with the contributions of BETUYAB, also received international support this year. This year, the project was financed through the partnership carried out with Conservation Collective through the “Memento Mori World Tour” of British music group Depeche Mode and Swiss watch brand Hublot.
New Contributions and Activities
In addition to the main financial resources of the project, TOMRA Collection, a pioneer in recycling technologies, also contributed to the project. In addition to the support it provided to the project in 2024, TOMRA Collection exhibited a demo deposit return machine produced specifically for the project in the project field activities and presented the most innovative form of recycling to beachgoers.
In addition, various brands such as Star Diving Academy, Precious Plastics Turkey, Pebble, Sürdür Store, Zeero and hotels with Blue Flag awards took part in the events.
The 2024 activities of the project started on June 26-30 at the EKDAĞ Facilities Konyaaltı Public Beach, and continued on July 3-7 at the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism TURAŞ Belek Public Beach. The project continued with the “Plastic-Free July” workshops held with children at the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Environmental Education and Innovation Center, one of the Blue Flag International Best Practice Awarded Places in the region, on July 16-19. The last activity of the 2024 summer was held on September 4-8 at the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism TURAŞ Lara Public Beach. All activities carried out within the scope of the project were carried out at the Blue Flag Awarded beaches in the region.
The "Plastic-Free Shores, Plastic-Free Waters" project continues to be a beacon of hope for a cleaner future with these joint efforts to protect our seas and coasts. We would like to thank all project collaborators, volunteers, trainers who contributed to the project and all environmental volunteer citizens who visited the project stand and obtained information.