The Problem

The biggest garbage dump in the world is afloat in the ocean. It is commonly known as the Great Pacific garbage patch. It is estimated that it contains 80,000 metric tons of plastic.

Plastic is a versatile, lightweight, flexible, moisture resistant, strong and inexpensive material. But at the same time, without a proper recycling structure, about 10 per cent of it ends up in the ocean every year (source: “Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans”, Greenpeace). At this throwing- away rate, we can face a future with more plastic in the ocean than fish. According to a project “Kaisei”, seventy per cent of this mass eventually sinks, damaging life on the seabed.

It may seem like a single straw being used in Italy has no effect on the climate in Fiji. That is not entirely true. All the waters from inland meet together and form the global ocean. Moreover, lightweight plastics can travel long distances. It means that every single garbage that we dump in our hometown's river can come up at the other end of the world. People need to realise that every single-use straw or plastic bag they use might lead marine creatures to injuries. Small pieces of plastic are eaten by fish, turtles, and seabirds, often resulting in their death. Animals and birds can become tangled up in plastic debris, leading to serious fatalities. Moreover, the plastics in the ocean often end up in our food - fish and other seafood ingest the small pieces of plastic which lead to chemical contaminants in our diet.

Project’s goal:

The problem lies not in plastic by itself but in the way people use it. In order to save the ocean, we need to change people habits, attitude and behaviour towards plastic consumption. Sure, the world reacts to the problem, but still is not nearly enough. That is why we want to implement “Save The Ocean: Project” (STOP). STOP aims to take a small step towards better habits & cleaner ocean, with more specific objectives being: 1. To learn about the problems & share good practices from around the participating countries/regions; 2. To look for ways/solutions to encourage people to use plastic more responsibly; 3. To raise the qualifications and competences of youth workers and leaders in the field of environmental protection; 4. To increase awareness of the problem by creating social campaigns and related public events; 5. Strengthen the partnership between European and non-European organisations.

European Added Value

Ocean pollution is the biggest environmental crisis nowadays and the situation is changing not in the desired speed and (sometimes) direction. The problem is global. And, is unique because it’s felt globally too (i.e. trash in one country affects people & environment elsewhere). In other words, the oceans cannot be saved single-handedly. For that reason, international cooperation is necessary. Through cooperation with partners from different parts of the world, EU-based organisations (High on Life and its extensive network) will establish stable cooperation with non-EU actors in the field. This will, ideally, result in a joint effort to reduce plastic pollution by changing people’s behaviours.

Other advantages: 1) cooperation among partners will allow them to learn from each other’s experiences; 2) European and non-European partnership allows the spread of the core European values (sustainability, respect for human rights, transparency, etc.); 3) Stakeholders of STOP will improve their capacities in international cooperation. To sum up, all the above-mentioned added values could not be achieved with just local cooperation.