SeaClear2.0 will develop a holistic approach to address the full cycle of marine litter, towards the Mission to restore, protect and preserve the health of our oceans, seas and waters by 2030. To this end, we aim to prevent and reduce marine litter pollution, particularly plastics and microplastics, in the Mediterranean via (i) Community activation, citizen empowerment, and participatory practices for identifying site-specific measures for marine litter prevention and reduction, supporting the implementation of the WFD and MSFD; (ii) Scaling up and demonstrating the SeaClear2.0 system, an innovative solution with teams of autonomous, intelligent robots for effective monitoring and collection of marine seafloor and surface litter; (iii) Providing solutions for valorization of the collected litter via better sorting and recycling; (iv) Adding novel dimensions in policy making by providing evidence for new legislation and the implementation of existing rules to achieve Good Environmental Status and (v) Accelerating the uptake of our solution by demonstrating its scalability and replicability to the Mediterranean basin and beyond in three full-scale demonstrations, three pilot tests, and at least five associated-region projects. SeaClear2.0 impact ranges from the reduction of upstream and beach litter via public awareness and citizen activation; through effective litter monitoring using both robotic mapping and public reporting in a gamified app; to direct collection of at least 57% of existing litter in the areas covered by the robot teams, with options for valorization. The singular selling point of SeaClear2.0 is our unique blend of technological innovation (ii, iii), community-activation (i), and policy-making (iv). We achieve all this by exploiting consortium expertise in public engagement, policy-making, robotic perception and control, artificial intelligence, marine technology and operations, and litter sorting and recycling.

In-No-Plastic’s goal is to develop and demonstrate nano-, micro, and macro-plastic clean-up technologies in the aquatic ecosystems. The approach taken is a combination of social and technical removal strategies targeting the industrial hotspots through cooling water systems (CWS), harbours, lagoons, shores and the shallow sea water. The technical approach comprises of comparing the existing removal approaches (tendering), with multiple developing technologies at varying testing sites in Europe and in the Caribbean for the removal of nano/micro/macro-plastics. The approach entails a comprehensive monitoring system to gather data at frequencies of every 6 month for 2 years. This is done to understand the effectiveness of the new technologies and current clean-up approaches both in terms of cutting down plastic presence in the environment and its effects on the marine and local ecosystem. The technical approach will be a blueprint in establishing a coherent and synchronized system of cleaning, that is scalable and replicable. The social strategy comprises of an incentive-based initiative that relies on a remote application. The focus is to get the local population involved by incentivising plastic pick-up in return for monetary gain or other rewards. With the plastic gathered at the demo sites, it is to be treated for reusability by investigating different recycling approaches. This would allow to close the loop and achieve circularity. The approaches include a.o. replacement of fossil fuels for a Steel Mill, where its produced syngas is sent to a chemical plant as raw material to produce chemicals. The added value of the approach is the inter-connectedness of the processes in acquiring plastic waste and creating circularity in the value chain. The complementary consortium of 17 partners from 10 different countries, including 2 research organizations, 2 Government, 4 Industry End Users, 2 NGO, 7 SME of which 4 technology providers and 3 service providers.

MAELSTROM strives to provide answers and diversified solutions to the complex question to the removal and sustainable treatment of marine litter legacy. MAELSTROM leverages on the integration of complementary technologies for marine litter removal in different European coastal ecosystems, compounded with full-fledged circular economy and societal oriented solutions. In particular, the project (i) sets out a reliable multidisciplinary and scientifically sound approach for the assessment of marine debris distribution and impact on marine life in highly valuable ecosystems and protected areas; (ii) designs and manufactures scalable, replicable and automated technologies, co-powered with renewable energy and second generation fuel, to identify, remove and sort marine litter; (iii) evaluates over time the effectiveness of marine litter removal devices along with their impact on local ecosystems; (iv) integrates different technologies to track, sort and recycle all types of collected marine litter into valuable raw materials for future marketisation; (v) assesses the economic and societal impact of the MAELSTROM solutions providing also a comprehensive life-cycle assessment of the technologies and products; (vi) enhances social awareness about the marine litter issue and engages citizens and stakeholders in MAELSTROM activities; (vii) interplays with similar projects to maximize innovation uptake for marine litter removal within and outside the EU. MAELSTROM is formally supported by a set of key stakeholders committed to sustain its core actions and its follow up activities. The consortium is a tight knit group made of research centers and foundations of excellence in marine life, biology and sustainable energy, AI and robotics, multinational /national recycling companies with certified industrial plants, a market consultancy company, a micro-enterprise and a plastic-focussed NGO.

The project is built around the three main pillars of monitoring plastic litter, its collection and valorisation and, of course, the prevention of the distribution of non-degradable plastics. We will do so by strongly building on former projects addressing these topics and by connecting to previously identified major initiatives active in this area. For us, the most promising aspect is the activation and necessary participation of citizens affected by plastic pollution directly on the shorelines. We will guide them to becoming plastic entrepreneurs with a deeply rooted knowledge base and the right tools to start their own businesses through the valorisation of collected plastic litter and the provision of zero-waste solutions to all actors. We plan to employ 4 breakthrough innovations per pillar (monitoring, collection, prevention) that are neatly interwoven, building upon each other to create an even better whole. We will test these solutions in 8 demonstration sites in 8 Mediterranean countries and after validation, scale them up in 33 more sites with the potential to be launched across the whole Mediterranean. In parallel we will run two open calls to third parties to attract more solutions for implementation following our same methodology. All-in-all, we plan to map out 170 km2 for plastic litter, reach circa 100,000 citizens, collect around 400 tons of plastic waste, and build up plastic prevention pathways through scaling and replication for an equivalent of 3,700 tons of plastic.