BLASTIC

Marine litter consists mainly of plastic and packaging material in the Central Baltic region. The project demonstrates how plastic waste in urban areas finds its ways to the Baltic Sea and becomes marine litter. Land-based sources produce most of the marine litter, while rivers are major pathways feeding the sea with litter.

The project will apply regional and national strategies on a local level and also produce updated local action plans. In addition, BLASTIC will provide a methodology for mapping the most important sources and pathways of marine plastic litter and monitoring litter in rivers and coastal waters/areas.

The project will produce a list of sources and pathways with recommendations that are closely linked to resource efficiency in waste and water sector. The methodology will be implemented in three or four urban areas and will be further promoted in other areas. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the reduction of plastic waste flowing into the Baltic Sea.

Project partners

• Keep Sweden Tidy (lead partner, Sweden)
• Keep the Archipelago Tidy (Finland)
• City of Turku (Finland)
• City of Tallinn (Tallinn Environment Board, Estonia)
• Foundation for Environmental Education, FEE Latvia (Latvia)
• IVL (Sweden)
• Finnish Environment Institute SYKE (Finland)
• SEI Tallinn (Estonia)

Media coverage and international events

• Sveriges Natur: Nu ska plastens påverkan på miljön i Sverige utredas (8.09.2017)
• Our Oceans Conference 2017 in Malta: BLASTIC presentation. Video extract 3:40-28:30 (6.10.2017)
• EUSBSR forum: Seminar: Marine plastics in the Baltic Sea (4.06.2018)
• ERR: Problem of plastic waste in the Baltic on the rise (5.06.2018)