Sali Municipality Tourist Board, in cooperation with the Municipality of Sali, on 28th of May organized a plastic-free public event, The Dugi Otok trail race, which gathered more than 400 participants from all parts of Europe.
The race has traditionally been held fourth year in a row and promotes the tradition and culture of Dugi Otok: Tovareč music, fair of domestic island products, boat ride through the island archipelago, tasting typical island products and experiencing the island way of life. The routes of the Dugi Otok trail pass through the picturesque area of JU PP Telašćica and through the local towns of Sali and Zaglav, and in addition to amateur groups, this year a marathon category was additionally introduced, which aimed to attract professional competitors.
Dugi Otok trail event is organized according to the principles of the For plastic free Croatian Islands project,
– It should be emphasized that the event, in addition to promoting the destination, wants to encourage visitors and local residents to be physically active and adopt environmentally responsible habits – said Vladimir Radulić, head of the Municipality of Sali.
Namely, the Municipality of Sali, in cooperation with Sunce, implements the national campaign Together without plastic, supported by Beyond Plastic Med funds, and as part of the project For plastic free Croatian Islands.
– The entire Dugi Otok trail event is organized according to the principles of the For plastic free Croatian Islands project, which aims to reduce single-use plastic on the islands and in the sea. Accordingly, in order to avoid the generating a large amount of single-use plastic waste during the race, reusable bottles that the Association Sunce provided for all participants of the Dugi Otok trail were used. – continued Radulić.
Furthermore, the organizers made it possible for the participants to refill their bottles with water at the start and at the control points, to reduce the use of single-use plastic cups and the consumption of water from plastic bottles. In addition, participants guidelines for environmentally friendly behavior were included in the instructions and rules for the race.
– I am extremely glad that I had the honor to open the main trail route with a welcome speech in which I was able to introduce the participants of the Trail with the goals of the project and make them aware of the harmful effects of plastic and the ways to reduce it – said Blanka Rakuljić, expert associate of Sunce.
The Municipality of Sali is a partner of the Association Sunce on project For plastic free Croatian Islands, as part of which several public events were held with the goal of educating the citizens of Sali about the importance of reducing single-use plastic on the island. Also, as part of the project, the employees of the Municipality of Sali participated in two study trips to Italy and to Zlarin and Krk in order to further educate themselves about the successful ways of waste management and methods of implementing reduce, reuse, recycle principles.
As part of the project, on 15th to 16th of September 2022, Beyond Plastic Croatia conference will be held in Split, an interdisciplinary conference on waste management priorities – reduce, reuse and recycle.
The project is funded by The Beyond Med Association.
