The Mediterranean is one of the most polluted seas in the world. Every day, around 730 tonnes of plastic end up in its waters. Single-use plastic products make up more than 60% of total marine litter.
Despite the fact that three out of four people support a ban on single-use plastics, the linear business model of the hospitality sector still prevails. The HORECA sector (hotels, restaurants and cafés) generates significant amounts of single-use plastic, especially during the summer months. As a result, pollution continues to threaten Mediterranean oases that attract over 200 million visitors every year.
Although regional and national directives (the SUP Directive) exist to reduce single-use plastics, local implementation still faces obstacles.
LooP Zone is an Interreg Euro-MED international project focused on reducing single-use plastics on Mediterranean tourist islands. By creating Low Plastic Zones, the project brings together local authorities, the tourism sector and innovators to encourage the adoption of sustainable and reusable solutions. The project has brought together 12 partners from six Mediterranean countries who, along with 18 associated partners, will contribute to reducing marine pollution and increasing the sustainability of the HORECA sector in Mediterranean tourist destinations.
The Loop Zone project is being implemented on five Mediterranean islands that share similar challenges related to plastic, marine litter and the seasonality of tourism. These are Vis (Croatia), Formentera (Spain), Salina (Italy), Skiathos (Greece) and Gozo (Malta).
On these islands, an integrated low plastic zone model will be developed and tested, with the aim of encouraging the transition to a circular economy.
Project objective
The overall objective of the project is to reduce the use of single-use plastics in hospitality businesses on tourist islands and to enable hotels, restaurants and cafés to transition to sustainable business models and adopt environmentally friendly alternative products.
Project activities
1. Comprehensive analysis of the island context and development of pilot solutions.
2. Testing of an integrated three-pillar model for reducing the use of single-use plastics in the tourism sector on five islands.
3. Transfer of technical guidelines and policies of the LooPZone project and its three-step action model.
Expected results
1. Reduction of the total amount of single-use plastic generated by tourism activities in the pilot areas.
2. Tested three-step solution models for reducing single-use plastics.
3. Increased knowledge and capacities of island communities to address single-use plastic challenges in the HORECA sector.
4. Adoption of joint strategies and action plans for reducing SUP.
5. Development of new local value chains based on sustainable, low-plastic products.
Project lead partner: ARC – MedWaves (Spain)
Partners: Association for sustainable resource management (Belgium), Save the Med association (Spain), Island Council of Formentera (Spain), Messina foundation (Italy), Municipality of Malfa (Italy), Association for nature, environment and sustainable development Sunce (Croatia), Vis archipelago geopark (Croatia), Aenaos Thalassa association (Greece), Municipality of Skiathos (Greece) Foundation for regional development and dialogue Malta (Malta), Local council of Zebbug on the island of Gozo (Malta)
Total project budget: 3,999,526.60 EUR
Sunce’s total budget: 388,146.10 EUR
Project duration: 45 months, from September 1, 2025 to May 31, 2029
Project manager at Sunce: Tea Kuzmičić Rosandić, MSc in Biology and Ecology
Official project website: LINK
Project LinkedIn: LINK
