The Program
PLASTIC FREE WATERS
is being promoted by the thousands of Rotarian Mariners from around the world, members of the
International Yachting Fellowship Of Rotarians
who, passionate of navigation on lakes, rivers and seas around the Planet, are very concerned about the conditions of the waters on which they carry out their activities
PLASTIC FREE WATERS
is a complex international program that sees the Fleets of the 3 IYFR Areas in action under the aegis of the International Commodore. Each Area has its own organization but the strategic plan is only one, as only one is the coordination of the entire Operation.
In 2019 at the Convention in Hamburg, together with the IYFR International Commodore and representatives from all over the world of Rotary International and IYFR, we had the lucky chance to talk about PLASTIC FREE WATERS to the 2019-20 RI President Mark Maloney.
We also briefly told him of our project “ONE RIVER PER NATION PER YEAR”
Dozens of Districts and their Clubs all around the world, in close connection with IYFR, are operating:
to raise the awareness for the plastic pollution of our rivers, lakes and seas. especially in the schools.
to identify and propose sustainable solutions that can be adopted by Rotary, Districts, Clubs, and Rotarians in the world, to contribute to solve this global emergency
to contribute to significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste entering in the canals, rivers and seas by seeking for reliable systems and creating procedures and activities to retrieve, treat and recycle the plastic garbage recovered by the waters.
TO RAISE THE AWARENESS OF THE PROBLEM
To raise the awareness of the danger and irreversible damage to the environment that the improper use and incorrect management of plastic waste have already caused, and of the catastrophe that this will produce in the near future, if habits and behaviours will not be changed.
To promote, through “information” and “training“, the dissemination of convinced and convergent behaviors to successfully tackle the problem. This is carried out in a manner appropriate to age groups, geographical and cultural differences, and levels of responsibility.
Illustration to the students of the first middle classes of all the schools of Manfredonia, Italy, of the problems of plastic waste (February 2020)
With a present to all: a steel flask to replace the polluting and superseded plastic bottles
Conference on plastic waste pollution in a Hotel School Karol Wojtyla in Catania , by IYFR representatives
Rotary District 2120 Conference, Brindisi 2019
All the beach resorts and stores of the Riviera of Manfredonia displayed this poster in the summer 2019
TO IDENTIFY AND PROPOSE
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS THAT CAN BE ADOPTED BY ROTARY, DISTRICTS, CLUBS, AND ROTARIANS IN THE WORLD
Dissemination of the information in Rotary Districts and Clubs, as well as public institutions by the International Coordinator Sergio Santi
The General Secretary of PFW gives a lecture on «Operation Plastic Free Waters» at the Rotary Club Ramon Llull, in Palma de Mallorca
During the 2019 ECOMED Event in Sicily, Special conference on the subject, with WWF, Marevivo, Univesity of Catania
TO CONTRIBUTE TO SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF PLASTIC WASTE ENTERING IN THE CANALS, RIVERS AND SEAS
by seeking for reliable systems and creating procedures and activities to retrieve, treat and recycle the plastic garbage recovered by the waters.
To monitor technical-economical soundness and the operational testing of the different proposals of river barriers, conceived to prevent plastic waste to end up in the sea.
Monitoring the experimentation and testing of River Barriers
IYFR ACTIONS IN PROGRESS
- Information and awareness rising through this website, a Facebook page and personal contacts
- Preparation of illustrative material to be supplied to Rotary Clubs to attract awareness (movies – slideshow)
- Preparation of illustrative material for Rotarians to train primary and lower secondary schools students.
- Collection of technical information by a Group of experts for the assessment of sustainable interventions to block the flux of plastic waste from canals and rivers into the sea, and their appropriate treatment for proper recycling or disposal
- Collection of technical information for the promotion of biodegradable alternative plastics, where and if possible (e.g. fully biodegradable COVID 19 protection masks)
- Contacts with other Rotarian and non-Rotarian organizations, ethically active in the sector, to activate collaborations
- Identification of fundraising opportunities for the said activities
- Activation of contacts with the Rotary Districts Governors for Districts and Clubs involvement in the Operation PFW at all levels
We like to think that the recent decisions of the International Board, which indicated ENVIRONMENT as the new AREA OF FOCUS of
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, is due also to our small contribution.