Plastic free Balearics

We work with companies to reduce their single-use plastics consumption and find honest alternatives.

Working with companies to reduce plastic waste

The Plastic Free Balearics Programme works with companies in the Balearic Islands to reduce the generation of single use plastic waste and facilitate the crossover to single use plastic free practices, ultimately working for single use plastic free Balearics. The project is developed to allow for replication in other areas, which could result in efficient plastic reduction in areas beyond the Balearic Islands in the future.


Conducting assessments and providing tailor made reports for plastic reduction 

During the pilot phase of this project, 45 companies from all sectors in the Balearic Islands worked with Save The Med to assess the annual use of single use plastics within their facilities. With this information Save The Med developed a detailed database of over 12.000 commonly used products. The goal is to help companies to eliminate these products whenever possible, or to replace them with processes and reusable products and systems that have a reduced environmental impact. To support companies in the process, the team develops and provides tailor made action plans for each participating company for the reduction of the items they use, including proposals for alternative products and systems that they can opt for instead. 


Developing objective tools to help companies reduce plastic use while avoiding greenwashing and false solutions  - The Honest Alternatives to Plastic Index (H.A.P.I.)

Not seldom, alternative products to single use plastics that currently exist on the market are presented in misleading ways which might lead companies to believe that by choosing a different product, they are helping to solve the problem of pollution. However, this is not necessarily the case. Many producers will market their products in misleading ways to increase their sales, something often referred to as Greenwashing: Making a product seem more “green” or environmentally friendly than it actually is. 


To ensure that the alternative products that companies choose for the removal and replacement of their single use plastics are truly better for the environment than the original items, in 2019 the Plastic Free Balearics team developed a Honest Alternatives to Plastic Index (H.A.P.I.) in collaboration with experts from Inèdit. This new index is an innovative tool aimed to help companies and organisations to reduce their plastic footprint by assessing the environmental impact of their single use plastic products in use, objectively comparing them to existing alternative products on the market and providing best practice suggestions and guidelines for plastic reduction and improvement of company performance.


An objective certification scheme for plastic reduction

Our team, together with collaborators on each of the Balearic Islands worked to create a certification standard for the reduction of single use plastics called “Plastic Free Balearics”, like the project itself. Through this certification, the organisations Save The Med and IbizaPreservation hope to significantly increase the number of companies committed to reducing single-use plastics, as well as uniting all sectors - private, governmental and non-governmental - in the common goal of reducing the environmental impact generated by plastic pollution. 

Reducing plastic pollution among the tourism sector

But we need to go further than that! Given that each year, the Mediterranean Sea sees over 200 million tourists visiting its coastal areas, the Plastic Free Balearics team works to include the tourist sector in the reduction of single use plastic. Together with Futouris, we have developed a Best Practices Guide for companies in the tourist sector that provides key information about the problem and solutions of plastic pollution, visual infographics and comparison charts between the most commonly used items together to make it easy for companies to adopt the best alternatives.


To learn more about how your organisation can benefit from participating in the Plastic free Balearics Programme, contact tupa@savethemed.org

BSP Partners

BSP Partners