Workshop with EUROCORD – Fishing sector

Microplastic pollutions is becoming one of the world’s environmental main concerns, since is widespread in the environment threatening human health[1] and biodiversity. The European Green Deal (EGD), the new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) and the EU Plastics Strategy announce measures to tackle pollution from microplastics that are intentionally added or unintentionally released into the environment (from e.g. synthetic textiles). According to the EU Action Plan ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’  states that by 2030 the EU should reduce plastic litter at sea by 50% and microplastics by 30%[2]. The Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” ambition is to meet these objectives and targets to restore the health of the EU’s ocean and waters by 2030. To respond to these challenges, there is an urgent need to explore innovative transformative solutions for marine-friendly biopolymers.

In this context, the workshop “How can marine-friendly biopolymers be a suitable solution for commercial fishing, aquaculture and agriculture?” involved industrial players to discuss on the challenges to be addressed to respond to pressing environmental, societal and policy priorities. The workshop took place on 6 June 2023 in Lago di Garda, in the context of EUROCORD annual convention.

The workshop involved 50 EUROCORD (European Association of Rope, Twine and Netting manufacturers, their suppliers and their affiliate industries) members to discuss on the challenges to be addressed to respond to pressing environmental, societal and policy priorities (see Figure 21). EUROCORD participation in Glaukos (and other initiatives promoting sustainability for the sector) was key to raise awareness and stimulate the debate, therefore the audience was already sensitive with regards to these topics.

The objective was to:

  • Facilitate mutual learning and cross-fertilisation of experiences among stakeholders
  • Provide knowledge on future trends and expectations in terms of LCA
  • Collect recommendations in light of future industrial and policy agendas

The results of previous multi stakeholders workshops stimulated the debate that took place via interactive tools and facilitated live discussion.

 

 

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/research_and_innovation/groups/sam/ec_rtd_sam-mnp-opinion_042019.pdf

[2] Microplastics pollution – measures to reduce its impact on the environment (europa.eu)