Beach cleaning is a good way to remove marine litter from our environment, but the best solution is to prevent litter from ending up in the ocean in the first place. Therefore, awareness campaigns are the most efficient, cost-effective and long-lasting solution to this problem.
Last year, the Portuguese science outreach center Centro Ciência Viva do Algarve teamed up with SALT and created "The Plastic Detectives of Portugal" project, which is a combination of academic knowledge sharing, educational dissemination and collaboration between the Portuguese and Norwegian team. The project was funded by the Blue Growth Programme - EEA Grants Portugal.
After corona restrictions finally lifted, and after a long period of planning and preparations, the Norwegian partners were able to travel to Portugal to carry out the project together with the Portuguese partners and students and teachers at the participating schools. This project, PlasticDetektivePT, subsidized and facilitated beach clean-ups implemented by the Blue Schools João da Rosa, in Olhão, and Afonso III, in Faro. Blue Schools are schools which have joined an educational programme with goals of improving ocean literacy in schools, to inspire young people´s understanding and contribution to ocean sustainability.