The project Plastic Buster CAP open the door to the future to tackle the problem of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean area during the final session of “The Plastic Busters MPAs CAPITALIZATION CONFERENCE”  in Athens, Greece, 12-13 April 2022 (organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Environment & Energy, MIO-ECSDE, UNISI and ISPRA)

This conference featured and fully exploited the knowledge, know-how, experience and lessons learned by the implementation of the Plastic Busters MPAs demonstration and replication actions, addressing the entire management cycle of marine litter, from monitoring and assessment to prevention and mitigation. The event brought forward the most recent policy and scientific advances with regard to marine litter in the Mediterranean and provided an opportunity for creating synergies and fostering exchanges. It was the perfect place for a symbolic passing of the baton between the North and the South of the Mediterranean to tackle the marine litter, acting together to address this challenge.

The Plastic Buster MPA’s project ends but the Plastic Busters CAP starts as a follow-up, under the umbrella of the ENI CBC Med Programme, to transfer and consolidate the experience, capitalize on the outputs and data, to involve as much as possible the stakeholders in the Mediterranean area.

This participation in this Hybrid event represents a new chapter in history that started a few years ago to preserve the Mediterranean under the umbrella of the Plastic Busters Initiative. Moreover, it is a central step within the Work Package 2 – Communication of the project, to strengthen the collective consciousness related to the Marine Litter and to reaffirm the strategic and fundamental role of the Capitalisation project in fostering knowledge transfer to face this problem in the whole Mediterranean area.