The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, with its 550,000 inhabitants and 10 million visitors per year, is the first local authority on the Mediterranean coast to partner with WWF France for a three-year collaboration aimed at ending plastic discharge into the Mediterranean by 2025.
This commitment will be made official through the signing of a commitment charter on August 13th during the stopover of the Blue Panda, WWF’s ambassador sailing ship, in Nice from August 13th to 16th.
Cities, essential players in the fight against plastic pollution
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world by plastics, with over 600,000 tons dumped into it each year. Coastal activities are the main contributors to this plastic discharge (79%), followed by rivers (12%) and maritime activities (9%).
The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis is already taking action to combat plastic pollution in its territory: through informing and educating residents and visitors, providing numerous voluntary drop-off points, and conducting cleaning operations throughout the year.
By working alongside WWF France, it commits to going further by conducting a precise assessment of the sources of plastic pollution (nature, type, number…) and by developing an action plan organized around three priorities:
- Reduce the consumption of plastic products in the territory to limit the amount of plastic waste and the associated risk of pollution;
Promote reuse and alternatives to disposable and single-use plastics;
Recycle plastic waste that could not be avoided [currently the recycling rate is 22%] to limit the ecological footprint of end-of-life and future products.
