For the last three years, the Plastic Waste Free Islands Med project has worked to develop a roadmap to set the islands of Menorca and Cyprus on the path to avoiding and reducing plastic leakage. By applying a methodology jointly developed by UN and IUCN, the project has identified the critical hotspots of plastic pollution, besides carrying out a number of assessments of economic, legal, policy and institutional frameworks.

The final events on both islands concluded with the presentation of island-specific action plans to prevent plastic leakage, which have been co-developed in close cooperation with the public administrations and civil society organisations. 

These action plans focus on three specific sectors: tourism, fishing and waste management. As they prioritise both plastic reduction and reuse, recycling and enhancing waste management are only considered if no other options are available or if unavoidable.

Furthermore, the project requested from each pilot site to provide at least one commercially viable product made of locally sourced plastic waste, with the goal of generating income for local communities.

Final conference in Nicosia led by Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative

Under the auspices of the Deputy Minister of Tourism and with the support of the NGO Together Cyprus, CSTI organised a final event which gained significant media exposure and was broadcasted by European national TV channels.

This event encompassed talks by the project partners, alongside with the photo exhibition ‘Plastic Pollution – another threat to the beauty of our sand and sea & key contributor to environmental degradation’ (funded by the British High Commission in Cyprus) and a clean-up activity at the Pedieos River.

Following the presentation of the Action Plan for Cyprus, a meeting with the national Department of Environment promoted the inclusion of several actions stated in the plan in the new national strategy waste prevention management.

Read the Action Plan for Cyprus

For further reference, please read the economic, legal, policy and institutional assessments.

A new life for fishing nets in Menorca

In Menorca, the final event organised at Centro Artesanal de Menorca, featured the exhibition “PescArt Menorca”, an initiative of Alianza Menorca Sin Plástico under the leadership of the NGO Menorca Preservation. This exhibition showed the different commercial uses found by members of fishers’ associations, artisans and disabled people for disposed fishing nets. The analysis carried out by the project established the commercial feasibility for 15% of the fishing nets to be reused in various craft products such as lamps and other objects.

According to the Menorca Council (Consell Insular de Menorca), the action plan developed by the project will support the review of the Action Plan of the Menorca Biosphere Reserve and the Sectoral Master Plan for the prevention and management of non-hazardous waste in Menorca 2019-2025.

(Radio interview featuring the final event in Menorca during the programme "Españoles en la mar", min 23:12, in Spanish)



In Menorca, the local agent responsible for coordinating actions has been OBSAM (Observatori Socioambiental de Menorca).

Read the Action Plan for Menorca

The Plastic Waste Free Islands Med (PWFI Med) project was launched by IUCN-Med in 2019 with the support of the Didier and Martine Primat Foundation, as part of the global IUCN's Close the Plastic Tap Programme. 

View the project factsheet



Image : © ABC