Good Practice Project
In an effort to support marine conservation and tackle marine litter, a fisherman and his two sisters in Catalonia (Spain) developed an app and launched a campaign to promote waste collection, while practicing group sports.
Miquel Ferrès realised his fishing nets were collecting the same kind of litter that he had seen on the beach the day before during his running session. He, therefore, decided to take advantage of the app-boom to promote both his passion (sports) and the importance of looking after his place of work (the sea). He created the mobile phone application Twinapp: a platform to organise worldwide meet-ups for “plogging” – a concept that combines group sports with the collection of waste from the environment.
Developed in January 2018, the app has been downloaded more than 3 000 times and is available in four languages (Catalan, Spanish, English and French). Twinapp is being used in Spain and Argentina. The project’s awareness-raising campaign included four participative workshops during which the local residents and entities came together to discuss potential solutions. A beach clean-up event was organised in each of the four municipalities that participated in the workshops, as well as an outing organized by a local school.
Due to the link between the project promoters and the fishing sector, local fishing boats also took part in every clean-up event, collecting the litter found while fishing during the week before each event. The litter collected by boats was added to the rubbish picked-up by the events’ participants on land. In total, 10 tonnes of waste was collected at these events.
The project is a successful example of how the use of new technologies can address local challenges. “Plogging” and eco-swimming activities can be used in all coastal and inland areas as a tool for increasing social awareness and interaction between local stakeholders.
Total project cost | €62 550 |
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FLAG grant |
€31 275
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Beneficiary contribution |
€31 275 |
Timeframe of implementation | From Jun 2020 |
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