On Saturday, August 31, the Venice Lagoon Plastic Free initiative, in collaboration with Wake Forest University Venice students—part of the Venice Community of Practice against marine pollution, established by VLPF under the SeaClear2.0 project—organized a monitoring and cleanup of marine debris on a section of beach at the WWF Alberoni oasis on the Lido of Venice.
Among the guests was Matteo Schmid, Project Manager at the Hamburg Port Authority, a partner in the SeaClear2.0 project. Approximately twenty students, guided by two teachers, participated in a competition to find the highest number of marine debris washed ashore in the protected WWF Oasis area. The activity used combined apps from the H2020 SeaClear 2.0 and REMEDIES projects for gamified cleanup activities and for identifying and cataloging stranded marine debris according to European protocols.
This particular cleanup analyzed a part of the free Alberoni beach, which, being uncleaned by machines, shows the “natural” conditions exposed to marine pollution.
The app used during the cleanup contest allowed the participating students to experience a cleanup activity in the form of a challenge. The second app functions to capture, store, and aggregate data related to marine pollution from debris larger than 2.5 cm (macroplastics). The app generates data compliant with the EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network) standards, with which VLPF collaborates as a data provider.
During the event, a total of 517 pieces of debris were collected, including:
- 108 generic plastic fragments ranging from 2.5 cm to 50 cm
- 62 plastic bags for snacks, chips/wrappers for sweets
- 43 sheets of plastic, industrial packaging
- 36 plastic cords and ropes (less than 1 cm in diameter) unidentifiable
- 22 plastic rings from bottle caps
- 21 plastic sticks (cotton swabs)
The students from Wake Forest University thus had a firsthand experience, through a playful contest between two different teams, of the presence and removal of marine waste along our coastlines, which helped to develop awareness of the ubiquity of such a widespread and severe problem.
The cleanup took place within the framework of the European projects EU Mission Ocean and Waters, REMEDIES, and SeaClear2.0, and in collaboration with the WWF’s Plastic Smart Cities program, of which Venice is a signatory.