The Mediterranean Cleanup is an initiative from Enaleia, aiming to tackle the plastic pollution in the Mediterranean sea.
We have envisioned cleaner seas by empowering
every fisherman to fish sustainably and get rid of
plastics that polute our seas in the process
We believe that the solution is education. There is an opportunity to train the next generation of fishermen in Greece in sustainable fishing techniques, such as finishing tourism and at the same time boost job creation
30% drop in Fish Stocks throughout
Europe since 1995 according to 2016 reports
– Eurostat.
100% of Europe’s own fish has been
consumed; creating a need to
bring in stocks from elsewhere
– New Economics Foundation (NEF)
14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, despite the launch
of the first universal recycling symbol more than 40 years ago
8mm tonnes plastics leak into the ocean, equivalent to dumping the
contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute.
311 MT
1,124 MT
The plastic across the seabed is not going away by itself. Therefore, solving the plastic pollution problem in the Mediterranean requires a combination of cleaning up what has already accumuated and preventing more plastic ending up in the sea.
In an initiative implemented for the first time in Greece, Enaleia in cooperation with fishing boats, cleans the seabed from litter and plastic in the most efficient way (cost – time -quantity) ever implemented.
At the same time, in order to prevent more plastic from ending up the sea or landfill, we educate people about the environment and we have set up collection stations for fishing gear (which is 20-30% of the global plastic pollution). This fishing gear in being recycled or upcycled to create usefull products.
This fishing period (Oct. 2019 – May 2020) we motivated even more fishermen to join our initiative. In total 40 fishing trawlers, 30 purse seines and 50 smaller fishing boats are cleaning up the sea and they are collecting their fshing nets. This marine litter is being recycled, upcycled into products or artwork.
in the Enaleia fishing School
trained on sustainable fishing
of garbage cleaning from the sea per week
Mediterranean Cleanup is a project by Enaleia, a social enterprise that aims to make the marine ecosystem sustainable.
Kefalinias 46, Athens
6970 992220
6940 409202
info@enaleia.com
