Medplastic Ecoports 2020, here are the most eco-friendly ports in Italy

We have often asked ourselves during meetings of Medplastic-the association of Powerboats and Sail Newspaper that wants to raise awareness among boaters about sea conservation-what we could do to also involve marinas in the defense of Mare Nostrum. Yes, because you may not know it, but ports are a source of very considerable pollution, even and especially in the Mediterranean.

Let’s make it clear right away that this is not the fault of the boaters and their boats, nor of the marinas. We are talking about the ports that host cruise ships, which are a real ecological bomb, on par with airplanes. This is all because of emissions from large ships that come to release nitrogen oxides, sulfur, particulate matter and CO2 that are up to 100 times higher than emissions from urban traffic.

But even marinas reserved for recreational boats, those in Italy in particular, must not underestimate the problem of environmental protection. And they must do their part, with concrete virtuous behaviors.

MEDPLASTIC ECOPORTS 2020: HERE’S WHAT WE DO

So we asked ourselves, why not take a census of Italian ports and then ask them if they comply with simple, but effective, eco-friendly behaviors?

We surveyed nearly three hundred of them, from north to south, along the coasts of the Peninsula and its islands. Then we prepared, with the help of tourism port experts, a simple five-point questionnaire. This tool makes it possible to rank whether a tourist port is adopting virtuous and helpful behaviors to the cause of safeguarding and preserving the marine environment.

👇👇WHO HAS ALREADY JOINED

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We sent it to all 300 selected marinas and it was an immediate success: our e-mail sp******@***********re.it was filled with messages. Just to name a few:

• Port of Cetara (Salerno, Campania)
• Marina di Capo d’Orlando (Messina, Sicily)
• Port of Tropea (Vibo Valentia, Calabria)
• Marina dei Cesari (Pesaro-Urbino, Marche)
• Porto turistico delle Grazie – Marina di Roccella (Reggio Calabria, Calabria)
• Castelsardo Marina (Sassari, Sardinia)
• Marina di Arenella (Palermo, Sicily)
• Marina Punta Faro (Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

ARE YOU A PORT MANAGER? JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN

Dear port managers, we appeal to you: if you have not yet joined the campaign, here is why you are missing an opportunity!

Those who respond to us are classified by Medplastic as “recommended ports” for occasional or permanent stopover by a pleasure boat. As long as it meets at least three of the five requirements namely:

1 – Presence in the Marina/Port of Ecological Islands for the disposal of special waste.
(Batteries, milk of expired paint…)

2 – Presence in the Marina/Port of a system for the withdrawal of black water and bilge water (i.e., water that has oily residues and therefore needs to be filtered or stored in bins that are withdrawn periodically)

3 – Presence in the Marina/Port of automatic plastic collection devices or periodic organization of manual cleaning actions (i.e., moorings with nets)

4 – Presence or absence of an outreach program at the secretariat or at
moorers (plastic collection kits or brochures on recycling, black water, and plastic damage to be given to boats in transit)

5 – Presence or absence of the Blue Flag for more than one year (the flag is given but then must be maintained over time)

Download the form HERE fill it out and email it to sp******@***********re.it!

This initiative by Medplastic with Il Giornale della Vela and Barche a Motore aims to urge ports to adopt virtuous behavior, but also to ensure that those who moor their boats in a Mediterranean port choose those that are environmentally friendly. Even then you can change things.