Green Sail from Split, the only non-profit organization in Croatia which promotes its activities on protecting the sea and marine environment, has become one of the 30 semifinalists in the 2019 European Social Innovation Competition, selected from more than 500 applicants from across Europe, reports Dalmacija Danas on July 4, 2019.
The theme of this year’s competition is to solve the issue of plastic waste, and ideas and projects are needed in which plastic waste is reduced by introducing systematic changes at the local, national and European level. The purpose of the European Social Innovation Competition is to support ideas and projects that reduce plastic waste and garbage by changing or improving existing processes or introducing entirely new products and launching new initiatives.
Green Sail was one of the 30 projects from 19 countries that were selected for the next round of a total of 543 ideas reported from across Europe, all geared towards solving the growing problem of plastic waste. The published projects cover a wide range of solutions, from improving supply chains to changing consumer behavior.
The innovative idea of the Green Sail organization implies an educational program to reduce the amount of plastic waste within the nautical industry in other European countries, according to the model that the organization is already successfully implementing in Croatia. The idea behind the Green Sail project is to gradually develop plastic waste reduction and recycling programs for charter companies and marinas in other European countries with a developed maritime industry, like Italy, Greece, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, and France.
The introduction of Green Sail’s program into international charter and marinas will try to solve this problem in other countries apart from Croatia. What Green Sail awaits as a semifinalist is the chance to attend the renowned Academy of Social Innovation in Turin – an intensive three-day event where experienced social innovators are trained and given an opportunity to develop their ideas into sustainable business projects.
Apart from the Academy, the semifinalists also receive the personal support of a local mentor, who will assist them in preparing for the next stage of the competition, where they submit their extensive development plans to an independent commission. The commission will then select ten finalists and only three winners, each of which will receive 50,000 euros.
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