Building on Marine Litter MED projects executed since 2016, the Marine Litter MED PLUS project will further support the implementation of the updated Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean at national, sub-regional and regional level with a specific focus on Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The overall objective of the Marine Litter MED PLUS project is to reduce and prevent the generation of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea through an expanded implementation of key reduction and prevention measures as provided for in the updated Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean. 

The project aims at enhancing the implementation of the selected measures in terms of geographical scope and impact. The project will also support the upgrade of Ecological Objective 10 (EO10 – Marine Litter) of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) for the Mediterranean Sea and Coast, including for its Candidate Common Indicator 24. Interregional Cooperation will be further enhanced through tangible interventions in the Black Sea, in cooperation with the Black Sea Commission Permanent Secretariat (BSC), as well as in the Mediterranean with General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).

The Marine Litter MED PLUS project relates directly and will deliver substantive contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 12 and 14:

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
• SDG 14: Life Below Water.

Expected results

Building on the outcomes, the project is executed to achieve results in three main areas:

• Support the Southern Mediterranean Contracting Parties in implementing and developing/updating National Action Plans (NAPs), addressing marine litter in the context of the updated Regional Plan on Marine Litter and the ongoing negotiation for the Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution, and further expand the implementation of key reduction and prevention measures.
• Further advance the implementation of monitoring and assessment for IMAP EO10 on Marine Litter, including the operation of selected IMAP-based monitoring programmes for beach marine litter and floating microplastics, as well as the substantive upgrade and enrichment of IMAP EO10 indicators.
• Enhance interregional/regional cooperation, partnerships and synergies on marine litter, mainly through expanding the role of the Regional Cooperation Platform on Marine Litter, as well as the cooperation with the BSC and with GFCM.

MedWaves’s role: 

Activities on single-use plastics

MedWaves supports and coordinates activities under the project aimed at phasing out Single Use Plastic (SUP) products from the HORECA sector (hotels, restaurants and cafés). This action contributes to the aforementioned outcome 1, specifically under an output focused on assessing the contribution of tourism in the generation of marine litter from land-sources in selected South-Eastern Mediterranean countries. 

Tunisia and Lebanon

MedWaves promotes the adoption of voluntary commitments by companies in the HORECA sector and supports the consolidation of a certification and labelling scheme known as the “Low Plastic Zone (LPZ)” in two key countries: Tunisia and Lebanon. 

In collaboration with local stakeholders, the LPZ initiative is implemented in both countries in two main phases:

• Phase 1: A mentorship program targets 5 HORECA businesses in Djerba (Tunisia) and Beirut (Lebanon). These businesses sign voluntary commitments focused on reducing SUP products. The program includes an initial audit, tailored Action Plans for each company, and a final audit to review the results achieved.
• Phase 2: Running concurrently with or following Phase 1, this phase engages additional HORECA businesses in the LPZ initiative. Participants are granted access to a platform that allows them to self-assess their use of SUP products. To promote the involvement of these additional businesses in Tunisia and Lebanon,  national workshops are scheduled in the second half of 2025. These events aim to disseminate the LPZ initiative, build connections with similar efforts, and generate interest among both public and private stakeholders.

Morocco

A national workshop will also be held in Tanger (Morocco) before the end of 2025, with three main objectives

• Raising awareness among HORECA actors about the issue of SUP products.
• Strengthening the capacity of the HORECA sector to develop and implement strategies for reducing and replacing SUP products.
• Connecting existing national initiatives similar to the LPZ and exploring the potential for a harmonized certification system.