Cleaning Litter by developing and Applying Innovative Methods in european seas (CLAIM)

CLAIM is a four-and-a-half-year project funded by EU Horizon 2020, aimed at acting against plastic pollution through innovative technologies, targeting the prevention and in situ management of visible and invisible marine litter in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea.

Tangible results: The project designed, developed, and tested a passive filtering system for the removal of microplastics in a coastal sampling station and on board a Research Vessel and a pilot, employing visible light (sunlight) photocatalysis with green nanotechnology-based coatings that can be used to remove microplastics from the water in aquaculture installations and prevent them from impacting farmed fish and shellfish. To prevent floating litter from entering the sea, the project also developed the CLEAN TRASH® system that consists of an array of floating barriers designed to mimic those used in oil spills. When the system was placed at river mouths/estuaries, it demonstrated >95 % efficiency at collecting plastic litter. CLAIM also developed innovative modelling and monitoring tools to assess marine litter pollution in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. The technology quantified and mapped the main sources of plastic litter, hence the initial source of contamination can be identified and treated in order to achieve a cleaner marine environment. It also focuses on performing MP biota analyses on main commercial aquaculture species to investigate any potential impact due to ingestion on ecosystem services.

Application/relevance: The project contributes to cleaning the waters from polluting materials which can be ingested by aquaculture species thus, preventing contamination from small particles from getting into food to fall in people’s diet as well.