Piloted tourist accommodation in Cyprus, Greece and Malta have successfully managed to reduce the consumption and disposal of single-use plastics through the SUPMed project, the All Cyprus Hoteliers Association says in a statement.
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Since July 2020, partners from Cyprus, Greece and Malta have worked together under the project entitled “Reducing consumption and disposal of single-use plastics in the tourism industry in Cyprus, Greece and Malta”, also known as "SUPMed". The project provided innovative and sustainable solutions for tourism establishments to easily reduce the consumption, disposal and impact of the use of single-use plastics (SUP) in the tourism sector in these three regions, in accordance with the directive 2019/904 of the EU (to reduce the impact of plastic products).
These solutions were implemented by the ten tourist accommodations in Cyprus, Greece and Malta through a pilot program. “The results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed recommendations and the overall success of the project,” says PASYXE, noting that the methodology, the contribution of the pilot tourism facilities, the impact of single-use plastics on the environment and human health and other relevant information are provided in the Best Practices Guide.
“Tourist properties across Europe can benefit from the results and deliverables of the project, helping them to reduce their consumption and disposal of single-use plastics, and guiding their transition to a more environmentally sustainable way of managing them,” he notes. in his announcement PASYXE. In addition, it says the project will help ensure their operation complies with the requirements outlined in EU legislation on the use of single-use plastics (SUP).
According to PASYXE, the project had three main deliverables: a decision-making tool (DST), tailored action plans and a best practice guide.
The project will last until June 2023 with a total budget of €1,279,405 and is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation. The six partners involved in the implementation of the project are Aspon Consulting Ltd as the lead partner, Cellock Ltd and the All Cyprus Hoteliers Association from Cyprus, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Heraklion and Anelixis Development Consultants S.S.A. from Greece and AIS Environment from Malta.
By implementing the project, the partners will support coastal tourist accommodation in Cyprus, Malta and Greece (Crete) through pilot applications to transition to sustainable business models. These models will identify and replace the most used single-use plastics in each participating accommodation with more environmentally friendly, readily available and affordable alternatives.
The 10 accommodation – hotels participating in the pilot sample of the project by region are GrandResort, Atlantica Mare Village Ayia Napa, Radisson Blue Hotel and The Royal Apollonia in Cyprus, Elounda Palm Hotel & Suites, Infinity Blue Boutique Hotel & Spa and Paralos Lifestyle Beach in Crete and the Hilton Malta, the 1926 Hotel & Spa and the Mellieha Holiday Center in Malta.
