The event specifically focused on tackling marine litter. Speakers with a diverse set of backgrounds came together to share their insights into this topic. One thing they all agreed was that European projects such as URBAN-WASTE can not only improve the current situation and enable their city to share their experiences, learn new lessons but also showcase their achievements. Among others, Mr George Sylaios from the Democritus University of Thrace gave a scientific background on marine litter in terms of its origin, transformation once it is exposed to water and sun as well as impact on the food chain once it enters in a form of microplastics. Other speakers focused on civil society initiatives on combating marine litter by presenting good examples and their results. The Mutual Learning event was followed by a beach clean-up. The clean-up was organised as a part of a national marine litter prevention campaign where those who participated analysed the content of their bags in order to obtain data on what type of waste is the most common on beaches. The analysis showed that most of litter collected was styrofoam which mainly comes from a large number of fishing boats.

 
The next Mutual Learning event will take place on 19-20 September 2018 and will be hosted by Syracuse.
 
For more information about the event in Kavala read the full overview on the URBAN-WASTE website.