This year, Dubrovnik and Trogir cities, as part of the national campaign Together without plastic, are organizing a Plastic free Advent to promote reusable solutions for single use plastic products to reduce plastic pollution in the sea.
To encourage citizens to use alternative solutions, Dubrovnik and Trogir replaced single use plastic cups with reusable CupUp cups and single use plastic accessories with compostable ones.
During the Dubrovački zimski festival, the Association Sunce signed a Cooperation Agreement with Neverin d.o.o. company for the Advent’s house “Festivus” where reusable glasses will be available. Costumer of the house can take reusable glasses with a deposit of 10 kunas, and this amount is returned to costumer after handing over the glass after using it. Also, the customer can keep a reusable glass, as a souvenir, and waive the return of the deposit. It is estimated that approximately 100 single use plastic cups are consumed per day in just one Advent’s house, and in case we use reusable solutions, this saves 3,000 cups per house. We have 9 Advent’s houses in Dubrovnik this year, which would mean 25,000 glasses less at the landfill.
All caterers who acquired Advent houses durring the Dubrovački zimski festival are obliged to respect the Decision to reduce the use of disposable plastic.
In cooperation with Čistoća Dubrovnik, utility company, containers for separate collection of biowaste, plastic and municipal waste were installed, and all caterers received stickers that contained instructions for waste separation.
One of the environmentally conscious activities that the City of Dubrovnik has been carrying out for ten years is the distribution of canvas bags made from recycled material. The activity started on the occasion of the International Day Against Plastic Bags and has continued over the years to educate the public about the harmfulness of plastic bags and the need to replace them. This year, the distribution of canvas bags with the inscription Dubrovnik – a city without plastic bags was held on the Gruž market.
The City of Trogir also had an obligation for all caterers to comply with the Decision to reduce the use of disposable plastic, but Trogir decided to share its reusable glasses to Advent visitors without a deposit. So, all visitors of the Zimska adventura u Trogiru, with a bottled drink ordered, can take home a reusable CupUp glass as a souvenir.
Plastic free Advent in Dubrovnik and Trogir is just another proof that with good organization and cooperation of all stakeholders, successful public events can be organized without single use plastic. We hope that there will be more events like this.
Plastic free Advent is a part of the Plastic Smart Cities Croatia project and supported by WWF Mediterranean, the Association Sunce and the cities participating in the project.
