“Removal of Marine Litter and Circular Economic: Challenges and Opportunities”

On June 3rd 2021, the H2020 MAELSTROM and InNoPlastic Projects set the stage for the international workshop “Removal of Marine Litter and Circular Economic: Challenges and Opportunities” that will take place at the historic Arsenal of the world heritage site of Venice and its lagoon.

For the first time, the event brings together innovative sustainable technologies for removing and recycling marine plastics litter, bonding together large industrial entities with startups and NGOs in the attempt to turn such a planetary scourge into a blue economy opportunity. The workshop is the first annual event in the frame of the EU H2020 projects MAELSTROM (coordinated by CNR ISMAR) and InNoPlastic (coordinated by SINTEF), instrumental in taking stock of the most promising marine litter removal and blue circular economy’s technological developments in the European Union. “.
The workshop will host representatives of additional EU pioneering projects and independent entrepreneurs engaged in designing and testing innovative vessels/devices to retrieve marine plastics litter through which feed stocking green/blue economy growth by circular/economy-oriented technologies.

These projects were also born believing firmly in the importance of the role of informed citizens to mitigate the problem of marine litter. For this reason, as part of MAELSTROM and InNoPlastic, several cleanup campaigns have been planned with multiple goals all around Europe and the Caribbean in the following 3-4 years.
In the aftermath of the workshop, a vast cleanup campaign will take place in the Venice historic city centre, mainland and minor islands, with the fundamental support of the local waste management authority (VERITAS), aligned with the World Environment Day (June 5th).

A great moment of exchange of scientific and technical knowledge: the workshop is a one-day event from 10.00 to 17.30. It brings together representatives of four international projects dedicated to addressing the problem of marine litter. Divided into four sessions and with round tables and Q&A moments, the meeting occurs in a combined mode, partly online and partly in presence at Torre di Porta Nuova of Arsenale of Venice, due to the persisting pandemic constraints.