the Operation

PLASTIC FREE WATERS

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PLASTIC FREE WATERS

is a complex international operation that sees the Fleets of the 3 IYFR Areas in action under the aegis of the International Commodore. Each Area has its own organization but the strategic plan is only one, as only one is the coordination of the entire Operation.

In 2019 at the Convention in Hamburg, together with the IYFR International Commodore and representatives from all over the world of Rotary International and IYFR, we had the lucky chance to talk about PLASTIC FREE WATERS to  the 2019-20 RI President Mark Maloney.

We also briefly told him of our project “ONE RIVER PER NATION PER YEAR”

Dozens of Districts and their Clubs all around the world, in close connection with IYFR, are operating:

to raise the awareness for the plastic pollution of our rivers, lakes and seas. especially in the schools.

to identify and propose sustainable solutions that can be adopted by Rotary, Districts, Clubs, and Rotarians in the world, to contribute to solve this global emergency

to contribute to significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste entering in the canals, rivers and seas by seeking for reliable systems and creating procedures and activities to retrieve, treat and recycle the plastic garbage recovered by the waters.

TO RAISE THE AWARENESS OF THE PROBLEM

    To raise the awareness of the danger and irreversible damage to the environment that the improper use and incorrect management of plastic waste have already caused, and of the catastrophe that this will produce in the near future, if habits and behaviours will not be changed.

  To promote, through “information” and “training“, the dissemination of convinced and convergent behaviors to successfully tackle the problem. This is carried out in a manner appropriate to age groups, geographical and cultural differences, and levels of responsibility.

Illustration to the students of the first middle classes of all the schools of Manfredonia, Italy, of the problems of plastic waste

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To replace the  polluting and superseded plastic bottles

Conference on plastic waste pollution in a Hotel School Karol Wojtyla in Catania , by IYFR representatives

All the beach resorts  and stores  of the Riviera of Manfredonia displayed this poster in the summer 2019

TO IDENTIFY AND PROPOSE

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS THAT CAN BE ADOPTED BY ROTARY, DISTRICTS, CLUBS, AND ROTARIANS IN THE WORLD

Dissemination of the information  in Rotary Districts and Clubs, as well as public institutions by the International Coordinator Sergio Santi

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During the 2019 ECOMED Event in Sicily, Special conference on the subject,  with WWF, Marevivo, Univesity of Catania

TO CONTRIBUTE TO SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF PLASTIC WASTE ENTERING IN THE CANALS, RIVERS AND SEAS

by seeking for reliable systems and creating procedures and activities to retrieve, treat and recycle the plastic garbage recovered by the waters.

To monitor technical-economical soundness and the operational testing of the different proposals of river barriers, conceived to prevent plastic waste to end up in the sea.

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IYFR ACTIONS IN PROGRESS

• Information and awareness rising through this website, a Facebook page and personal contacts
• Preparation of illustrative material to be supplied to Rotary Clubs to attract awareness (movies – slideshow)
• Preparation of illustrative material for Rotarians to train primary and lower secondary schools students.
• Collection of technical information by a Group of experts for the assessment of sustainable interventions to block the flux of plastic waste from canals and rivers into the sea, and their appropriate treatment for proper recycling or disposal
• Collection of technical information for the promotion of biodegradable alternative plastics, where and if possible (e.g. fully biodegradable COVID 19 protection masks)
• Contacts with other Rotarian and non-Rotarian organizations, ethically active in the sector, to activate collaborations
• Identification of fundraising opportunities for the said activities
• Activation of contacts with the Rotary Districts Governors for Districts and Clubs involvement in the Operation PFW at all levels

We like to think that the recent  decisions of the International Board,  which indicated ENVIRONMENT  as the new AREA OF FOCUS of

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL,  is due also to our small contribution.