From November 8 to 10, the BeMed-Islands Community will gather in the Frioul archipelago, located off the coast of Marseille. This event titled Solutions for waste-free islands in the Mediterranean will mark the end of the capitalisation process of BeMed supported projects. The gathering, organised by SMILO in collaboration with the Frioul Island Committee, SMILO’s Région Sud islands, Beyond Plastic Med and MedWaves, will also set a way forward towards our common goal: preventing plastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea.

Maximizing synergies among initiatives has been one of the main intentions of the CapiMed-Islands project, a capitalisation process implemented by MedWaves and SMILO for BeMed supported projects in Mediterranean islands. With the project coming to an end, this aim is materialised in a final event titled Solutions for waste-free islands in the Mediterranean, which will be held in the Frioul archipelago from the 8th to 10th of November.

The objective of this event is to have an impact on waste reduction by capitalising on the collaborative achievements of Mediterranean island projects in favour of a circular economy, sustainable waste management and plastic prevention by:

• Fostering collaboration between island projects;
• Transferring approaches, results and lessons learnt from individual projects to other islands to build capacity, as well as to support the creation of new island partnerships;
• Integrating projects and results of the programmes at different scales: from the local level (with Frioul island whose territorial planning strategy & SMILO labelling process will be at the heart of the exchanges) to the regional level (European programmes, Barcelona Convention, BeMed).

During the event of the BeMed-Islands community MedWaves will officially present its publication Hope for the future: successful solutions for plastic pollution in the Mediterranean islands by the BeMed-Islands Community. This 60-page report dives into the main results and the lessons learnt through personal interviews with project beneficiaries. In addition, the event’s attendees will be able to agree on the next steps to continue working as a community. Beyond the factual limits of the CapiMed-Islands project lies a sea of collaboration and exchange to prevent plastic pollution in the Mediterranean.

Project beneficiaries from the Balearic Islands, Cyprus and the Tunisian island of Djerba, among others, will attend the event and share their experiences and know-how with a wider audience. Therefore, the event Solutions for waste-free islands in the Mediterranean is a great occasion to showcase how organisations are fighting against plastic leakage in Mediterranean islands, as well the benefits of working together as a community.

Read the full programm of the event here:
FRIOUL FINAL PROGRAM
FRIOUL PROGRAMME FINAL (FR)