Acronym | BluePoint

Project Name | BluePoint - Blue Circular Economy of Marine Plastics

Duration | 30 months (11/01/2023 to 04/30/2026)

Total Eligible Cost | 3 363 464,31€

Financial Support (ERDF) | 2 522 598,23€

Summary:

The OECD report of February 2022 indicates the presence of 140 million tons of waste in the oceans, with 80% of that total being plastic, and an annual addition of 12.5 million tons. By 2050, plastic may outnumber fish, causing damage to marine biodiversity, health, and the economy. The French Institute of the Sea found about 55 thousand tons of marine plastic in the Bay of Biscay, affecting the Atlantic-Cantabrian coast. BluePoint will turn this problem into an opportunity.

The project will create a multi-stakeholder ecosystem and a model of intercooperation, innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization that will leverage the value chain of marine plastic and emerging business opportunities arising from pollution. The project aims to systematize the BluePoint model, making it replicable in other territories and contributing to the transition of the maritime sector to an efficient resource circular economy.

Objectives:

Development of a multi-stakeholder ecosystem of intercooperation, innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization that explores the value chain of marine plastic and emerging business opportunities to establish a replicable model in the Atlantic region.

The project aims to contribute to reducing the environmental impact of marine plastic, creating business opportunities (including accelerating more than 25 companies), and guiding the maritime sector towards a Blue Circular Economy.

The project will promote market-oriented research activities along the marine plastic value chain, including the development of new technologies for recovering, recycling, and reusing marine plastics, as well as identifying new business opportunities.

Partners: 

Diputacion Foral de Gipuzkoa (Department of Environment and Hydraulic Works) – Spain – Project Coordinator

M.I.K.S.Coop (MIK)– Spain

Government of the Principality of Asturias – Spain

Atlantic Technological University (ATU Sligo) – Spain

Association of Asturian Companies of Associated Work and Social Economy – Spain

Society for the Regional Development of Cantabria (Sodercan) – Spain

I Clean My Sea – France

CVR - Centre for Waste Valorisation – Portugal

Higher School of Advanced Industrial Technologies – France

University of Limerick (Electronic & Computer Engineering) – Ireland

Landscape Laboratory – Portugal

South East Business & Innovation Centre – Ireland

Decathlon (Nabaiji) – France