The project “A sea without waste“, launched bySubmon, with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation and Ecoembes, had as its main objective to achieve the good environmental status of marine ecosystems. The initiative aimed to to raise awareness among primary and secondary school students in all the autonomous communities of the Spanish coast about the problem of marine litter, as well as to disseminate the project among society as a whole to raise awareness among the population about the importance of keeping the seas and oceans clean.

A protocol for the characterization of marine litter present on beaches and training material for students and teachers were created. These documents served to enable a didactic unit that allowed work on marine litter in educational centers in different autonomous communities. At the same time, the “Sponsor your beach” campaign was launched, with which schools included the conservation of marine ecosystems among their teaching activities by sponsoring a beach in their municipality.

The project has met the objectives initially proposed, contributing to raise awareness in the school community about the problem of marine litter and achieving its long-term involvement in the cleaning of a beach in its municipality through its “sponsorship”.

Thanks to the project, 10 schools have cleaned up a beach in their town, 8 of them having committed to continue with the cleanups in subsequent years. In total,932 students have participated and have collected 31,657 kg of waste , among which cigarette butts and small plastics stand out for their abundance.

As support materials, a didactic unit on marine litter has been prepared and various brochures that can be downloaded from the www.estrategiasmarinas.info website.