AQPLA project

AQPLA – Establishing a ‘bottom-up’ approach to reducing plastic waste pollution in the Danube catchment area

AQPLA – Initiating bottom-up management solutions to reduce plastic waste in the Danube Basin – Aquatic Plastic

AQPLA – Establishing a ‘bottom-up’ approach to reducing plastic waste pollution in the Danube Basin

The AQUATIC PLASTIC project consortium comprises 13 project partners and 19 associated partners from 10 countries, representing various stakeholder groups dedicated to tackling the issue of plastic pollution in the Danube Basin. The consortium includes ministries responsible for legislation, non-governmental organisations actively involved in fieldwork, universities engaged in scientific research, national laboratories and public research institutions involved in monitoring and maintaining water quality.

The lead partner of the project is the Plastic Cup Society, which is also the driving force behind the Plastic Cup initiative. Since 2013, the Plastic Cup initiative has removed almost 300 tonnes of waste from watercourses, whilst 700 tonnes of waste have been diverted into waste management systems.

Key stakeholders in the project are the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), which is the coordinator of Priority Area 4 (PA4) under the EUSDR.

GENERAL PROJECT INFORMATION

Full project title: Initiating bottom-up management solutions to reduce plastic waste in the Danube Basin – Aquatic Plastic

Slovenian project title: Establishing a ‘bottom-up’ approach to reduce plastic waste pollution in the Danube Basin

Project acronym: AQPLA

Project code: DRP0200235

Programme: Interreg Danube Transnational Programme (2021–2027)

Objective: The AQPLA project focuses on developing methodologies for monitoring and assessing plastic waste pollution in rivers. By providing reliable, comparable and user-friendly methods, the AQPLA project is developing additional tools for river management. In doing so, it helps to more accurately assess the costs of measures to mitigate the effects of pollution and clean up rivers.

Within the project, we will focus on the following areas of work:

– Microplastics: developing and testing cost-effective methods for monitoring microplastic pollution in rivers. The aim is to obtain comparable results through cross-border cooperation between various stakeholders.

– Macroplastics: testing remote sensing methods to monitor the accumulation of waste on river surfaces and near water barriers.

– Field actions: organising pilot clean-up operations at high-risk pollution sites identified using remote sensing methods.

– Dissemination and capacity building: involving the wider public in data collection, providing on-the-ground training and organising interactive round-table discussions.

Project partners:

AT University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna
BG Institute of Oceanology – BAS
BIH Citizen association “Eko centar” Visegrad
HU Plastic Cup Society (Lead Partner)
HU Association of Environmental Enterprises
HU General Directorate of Water Management
ME Centre for Ecotoxicological Research Podgorica
ME Ministry for Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Directorate of Ecology and Climate Change
RO Multisalva Association
RO Mare Nostrum
RS Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad
SI Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia
SK Water Research Institute, Slovakia

Associated partners:

AT International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
AT via donau – Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH
BIH Institute for Water Management
HR Croatian Waters
HR Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute
HU Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
HU North Hungarian Water Directorate
HU Middle Tisza District Water Directorate
HU MVM Hydropower Plant Ltd.
RO Satu Mare County Administrative-Territorial Unit
RO Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests
RS Serbian Environmental Protection Agency
SI Hidroelektrarne na Spodnji Savi (HESS)
SI Ecologists Without Borders (EBM)
SI Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO)
SK Slovak Environment Agency
SK Slovak Environmental Inspectorate
SK Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic
UA Recyclable Materials Collection Station