ASSO-MER created BIM (Maritime Intervention Brigade) in 2017 who’s main objective is to collect underwater and coastal waste from all over Martinique in order to reduce their impact on the marine environment (including fishing gear abandoned or lost at sea).

ASSO-MER

ASSO-MER, an association under the 1901 law, was created in 2016 with the aim of managing and protecting Martinique’s marine heritage. For more than three years now, the association has taken a prominent place in the associative landscape for the protection and enhancement of the sea. Our association now has many volunteers involved, motivated members and diverse skills, including scientific and technical. The richness of the work carried out is largely based on the network of institutional and private partners which L’ASSO-MER has set up.  

The Maritime Intervention Brigade 2

ASSO-MER created BIM (Maritime Intervention Brigade) in 2017 who’s main objective is to collect underwater and coastal waste from all over Martinique in order to reduce their impact on the marine environment (including fishing gear abandoned or lost at sea). With this new project, we want to move from one-off operations to a more regular, more successful and above all more operational mission of collective interest through several aspects. 

Phase 1: Concert around a local scientific protocol ranging from tracking to recycling of waste

Phase 2: Organize the arrival of a trainer in Martinique

Phase 3: Prevent and communicate

Phase 4: Locating waste at sea

Phase 5: Recover waste / minimum 6 big collection operations over the duration of the project

Phase 6: Create a waste collection network in Martinique / signature of a partnership agreement with stakeholders and public partners

Phase 7: Recovering waste, nets and fishing gear recovered by an artistic operation for educational purposes.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme (2021). Compendium of case studies on solid waste management.

Since 2017, the St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council together with the St. Kitts Ministry of Tourism, has championed a movement for a “Plastic Free St. Kitts.” Through various community engagement activities, the island-wide initiative combats plastic pollution and marine debris by raising awareness and empowering residents and businesses to reduce their consumption of single-use products. By minimizing pollution along St. Kitts’ shorelines and seas, this important initiative plays an important part in preserving the destination’s health, conserving its marine environments, and sustaining its tourism-driven economy. 

Background

Like many tropical island destinations, St. Kitts and Nevis is highly-reliant on tourism, with 1,297,385 (ECCB, 2020) international tourist arrivals in 2018. As most travelers come to the islands for relaxation and adventure, St. Kitts’ attractive beaches and vibrant marine life are essential elements of its visitor appeal. Yet one threat to these important tourism assets is the increasing presence of plastic debris along St. Kitts’ coastlines and seas. In addition to degrading the island’s natural beauty, this pollution harms sensitive marine wildlife, such as the critically endangered hawksbill turtles that nest on St. Kitts’ beaches. Reducing plastic pollution is thus necessary to safeguard the island’s marine ecosystems and sustain the tourism industry that drives the local economy. 

A movement for a plastic free St. Kitts

To foster collaboration around sustainable development on the island, the St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council (SDC) was established as a multi-stakeholder advisory body to the Ministry of Tourism in 2013. By uniting the public and private sector around joint action, the SDC addresses the most pressing environmental and socio-cultural challenges in St. Kitts. Recognizing the need to combat plastic pollution within the Federation, the SDC has championed a movement for a “Plastic Free St. Kitts.” Originally launched in 2017 as a monthlong campaign aligned with the global Plastic Free July campaign, the movement has since expanded into an education and advocacy initiative that takes place year-round. Through various community engagement activities, the “Plastic Free St. Kitts’ initiative aims to minimize island-wide pollution and preserve environmental health by empowering residents and businesses to reduce their consumption of single-use plastic products. 

Public Awareness & Education

Since its inception, the initiative has strived to shift the local mindset and stimulate widespread demand for improved waste management in St. Kitts. This has been accomplished through a series of awarenessraising activities, including television and radio appearances, social media communications, an annual march, screenings of marine plastics documentaries for over 200 stakeholders, and presentations to community organizations and six local schools. These activities shed light on the growing problem of plastic waste, and its consequences for marine ecosystems and tourism activities, such as beach-going and diving. In addition to establishing the importance of pollution prevention, the initiative educates stakeholders on sustainable waste management practices. Actionable tips and recommendations are disseminated to promote improved waste reduction, re-use, and recycling habits by individuals and businesses. For example, businesses are encouraged to replace plastic straws with compostable alternatives and only give them out when customers request them.

Encouraging Plastic Alternatives

The initiative has also raised discussion and interest around plastic alternatives, such as compostable and reusable items. Reusable bags are sold for discounted prices at local supermarkets to encourage shoppers to avoid plastic bags. Proceeds from these sales benefitted the Heart of St. Kitts Foundation, a local organization that sponsors communitybased sustainability projects on the island. Metal straws and cups are also distributed to replace their plastic counterparts and the SDC offers businesses guidance on how to source plastic alternatives. Since the launch of the initiative, about 2,000 reusable bags and 500 cups have been distributed, and more businesses have started using sustainable products. 

The Art of Repurposing Plastics

A particular emphasis has also been placed on repurposing plastics as an innovative means of raising awareness. Each year, repurposing competitions are held for school children and the general public. Participants are challenged to craft their used plastics into useful items, such as jewelry, vases, and other household items. In 2018, rubbish collected from local beaches was used to create a public art piece that visualizes the impacts of pollution on marine life by depicting fish swimming in an ocean of plastics. Similarly, the SDC has constructed floats out of plastics and styrofoam for St. Kitts’ Carnival parade each year as a form of artistic awareness. Last year’s design portrayed plastic monsters taking over the pristine island. It remains on display at the Pelican Mall, a business hub for residents and visitors. 

Beach Clean-Ups

Over the years, the SDC has partnered with the Heart of St. Kitts Foundation to host a number of beach cleanups across the island. To date, over 300 volunteers have participated in these events. The SDC uses the Clean Swell app to track the amount and types of trash collected during these cleanups. This valuable data helps the SDC identify the top types of pollutants to target through future activities. 

Looking to the future

While the Plastic Free St. Kitts initiative has made impressive progress during its first three years, the SDC holds high aspirations for what’s to come. The activities to date serve as important building blocks that will pave the way for action-oriented commitments and new policies as residents become more receptive to change. Future objectives include launching a new awareness video, advocating for financial incentives for sustainable products, eliciting waste reduction commitments from businesses, seeking Cabinet support for the banning of single-use plastics, and adhering to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative. 

Source: United Nations Environment Programme (2021). Compendium of case studies on solid waste management.

Some local governments in China still have a mindset of valuing development and scorning environmental protection, and some enterprises make no scruple of taking a risk in pursuing illegal interests, the problem of the illegal entry of foreign garbage into the country is not eliminated despite being repeatedly prohibited, which is severely detrimental to the health of the people and China's eco-environmental security.

To solve the problem, the Plan sets up the following main objectives: The import of solid waste shall be strictly administered, and by the end of 2017, the import of solid waste posing a grave danger to the environment and triggering strong response from the people will have been fully banned; and by the end of 2019, the import of solid waste which can be replaced by domestic resource will have been gradually ceased.

The eco-environmental safety shall be ensured by constantly enhancing the supervision of the import, transportation and use of solid waste and all other links. The tough stance against foreign garbage smuggling shall be sustained to completely block the entry of foreign garbage. The conservation and intensive use of resources shall be enhanced, the level of harmless use and recycle of domestic solid waste shall be fully raised, and the domestic resource gap shall be gradually filled in, so as to provide powerful guarantee for the building of a beautiful China and the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.

Grupo Retorna, a Non-Profit Entity, is the first alliance for the environmentally safe management of post-consumer waste in Colombia and Latin America. Represents companies from different economic sectors, helping to comply with the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility, integrating and optimizing operational processes, for the benefit of the country. Retorna is an initiative made up of six postconsumption systems, in order to promote compliance with the legal framework and public policy regarding the implementation of collection systems and comprehensive management of post-consumption waste, based on the application of environmental education, alliances, communication, among others, to generate behavioral changes regarding environmental awareness.

Overview

The Grupo Retorna Association is the first alliance for post-consumer waste management established in [Colombia]; It brings together more than 130 companies from the domestic pesticides, household appliances, electronics and automotive industries.

The strategic axis of the association is framed in the promotion of collective efforts in the field of Extended Producer Responsibility, to comply with the guidelines set forth by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the ONU (Organization of Nations United) and the Government of Colombia, at the head of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. This initiative is aimed at meeting the growing expectations of the various interest groups regarding environmental protection, complying with Colombian public policies and regulations. This shows the commitment of the sectors involved to manage the waste generated by their operation in an environmentally safe way; prevailing the union interest over the private interests and articulating collective actions.

It is made up of the Corporations: Cierra el Ciclo, EcoComputo, Pilas con el Ambiente, Red Verde, Recoenergy and Rueda Verde; supported by the National Association of Colombian Industry - ANDI; which function as groups, made up of companies that import and/or market the products corresponding to each of these collection and management systems. The Grupo Retorna has allowed to deliver a comprehensive value offer to the generators of this waste, allowing them to properly dispose and manage: Containers of household insecticides, computers and peripherals, used batteries, domestic electrical (“white goods”), used lead acid batteries and used tires, which could have effects on the environment and on health as proper management is not carried out in its final stage.

The circular economy strategy has been, since its creation, the main axis of work of the Grupo Retorna. The results that the Association and its associates are producing today reveal a responsible and continuous work for the sustainability of Colombia. The amount of waste that inadequately reaches the sanitary landfills has been reduced, soils have been protected by mitigating the pressure of discharges of such waste and, additionally, it has contributed to the reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by reintegrating back to the economic cycle the materials that can be used, thus reducing the extraction of new resources from the earth. Grupo Retorna has reached more than 191 municipalities in the 32 departments of the country, benefiting more than 13 million inhabitants with collection, logistics, education and participation activities. In addition, the Group has more than 5,600 collection points arranged throughout the national territory, allowing Colombian citizens to properly dispose of their post-consumer waste.

Achievements of the corporations belonging to Grupo Retorna

The Corporación EcoCómputo has become the pioneering system of technological waste collection and management and a national and international benchmark in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Since the beginning of its operations, it has collected nearly 5.3 million units and more than 15,300 tons of computer and peripheral waste in the country in eight years of operation. Since 2014 Red Verde has voluntarily managed more than 10,200 white goods units, of which approximately 76% correspond to the category of refrigerators. During its years of operation, it has accompanied the design and implementation of international cooperation projects and national initiatives aimed at contributing to the goal of reducing GHG emissions. Pilas con el Ambiente, a corporation in charge of treating used batteries, has collected more than 1.7 million kilos, preventing them from reaching landfills. The by-products generated from the management are integrated as raw material in industrial, agricultural processes, foundry material, among others. Rueda Verde, in its seven years of operation, has managed the management of more than 12 million tires, representing around 271,630 tons of rubber and steel, which again enter the flow of materials available to the industry, contributing direct to the goals set by the country in recovery and use of waste. The Corporación Cierra el Ciclo has at the consumer’s disposal more than 550 collection points located in 106 municipalities of the national territory. Since 2011, 22 tons of household insecticide containers have been managed. Recoenergy has currently managed more than 139,000 units of used lead acid batteries. The bet is aimed at working together with companies in the automotive sector that produce and / or import lead-acid batteries, in order to meet the sector’s main REP challenges. The Grupo Retorna association seeks to work in line with the actions of the circular economy in the management of the different categories of post-consumer waste through the treatment and / or use of its materials, reincorporating by-products within the production process and minimizing the generation of waste remnant of the final process. 
 

Source: United Nations Environment Programme (2021). Compendium of case studies on solid waste management.