FanpLESStic-sea – Initiatiatives to remove microplastics before they enter the sea

FanpLESStic-sea

PROGRAMME 2014-2020

priority

2 Natural resources

objective

2.1 Clear waters

FanpLESStic-sea

Microplastics must be stopped from entering the sea. They stem from many sources, including car tires, waste disposal, textiles and cosmetics. But there is a need to better understand the sources and pathways of microplastics when assessing the efficiency of measures to treat microplastics and improving policies. FanpLESStic-sea provides tools to municipalities, national policy makers, and water utilities to get to work. The project sets up a model to map local pathways of microplastics, pilots removal technologies and defines innovative governance frameworks to reduce microplastics.

Project summary

Microplastic pollution

Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic, coming from e.g. cosmetics, clothes and bottles, that pollute the Baltic Sea and drinking water. The extent of pollution and consequences for the natural ecosystem have not been yet examined. There is also a knowledge gap on possible removal technologies and a lack of policy framework to support prevention and removal activities. The focus of the project FanpLESStic-sea is to track the sources of microplastics as a means of preventing microplastics from entering the sea.

FanpLESStic-sea project involves partner organisations in eight countries around the Baltic Sea, i.e. Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. It works with municipalities, water utilities and associations, national policy makers and research communities.

What is FanpLESStic-sea about?

The project FanpLESStic-sea improves the knowledge where microplastics come from and what their transport pathways are. The project also sets up a model to understand and better visualize the microplastic pathways. New technologies can prevent or reduce microplastic leakage into watercourses. Therefore, the project partners evaluate and pilot methods for filtering microplastics away, removing microplastics from stormwater, and implementing sustainable drainage solutions.

The project also defines innovative governance frameworks to better engage decision makers and other relevant players in implementing cost-effective methods to reduce microplastics. These include locally adapted investment proposals and plans for each partner’s region.

Budgets

FanpLESStic-sea
in numbers

2.97

Million

Total
2.05

Million

Erdf
0.09

Million

Eni + Russia
0.13

Million

Norway

Highlights by mid-term

The project partners worked together to map flows and pathways of microplastic in their regions. This mapping and, also, sampling activities provided an input to model of microplastic flows that is developed by the universities in cooperation with water utilities and authorities as a tool to better understand how microplastics travel and enter the ecosystem from different sources.

To raise awareness of general public about problems of microplastics and solutions to mitigate or prevent microplastic pollution, educational organisations and local authorities organised several events, including a cleaning campaign on the beaches of Kaliningrad and the “Decode the plastic” campaign in Poland.

Outputs

Project Stories