Creation of the Blue Point Consortium for a Blue Economy, an international alliance to combat plastic pollution in the Atlantic Ocean

CVR is one of the 13 partners of the Consortium, and the Chief Executive Officer, Jorge Araújo, and the Senior Researcher, André Ribeiro, attended the project launch in San Sebastian, Spain.

Blue Point is an ambitious project seeking to address the problem of marine plastics and turn it into an opportunity to establish a Blue Circular Economy in the regions of Gipuzkoa, Cantabria, Asturias, Portugal, France and Ireland.

This Consortium has 13 partners, and emerged as an international cooperation entity to foster the retrieval and reutilisation of marine plastics.

José Ignacio Asensio: “The oceans are our planet's most precious jewel, and plastic pollution is threatening their health and biodiversity. Blue Point seeks to retrieve and re-use marine plastics, establishing a sustainable value chain to the benefit of our local communities, encouraging the creation of jobs and new businesses based around the Blue Economy".

Photos: Blue Point and CVR

In a move to boost maritime sustainability, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council's Department of Sustainability has announced the creation of the Blue Point Consortium as a milestone in the fight against plastic pollution in Atlantic areas. This Consortium has 13 partners, and emerged as an international cooperation entity to foster the retrieval and reutilisation of marine plastics.

The presentation at the Naturklima facilities was attended by the Council's Secretary for Sustainability, José Ignacio Asensio; the Minister of Ecological Transition, Industry and Economic Development of the Principality of Asturias Government's, Mª Nieves Roqueñí; the director of New Market Prospecting and Internationalization at Sociedad para el Desarrollo de Cantabria (SODERCAN), Raquel Manzanares; the senior researcher of Centro para a Valorização de Resíduos, André Ribeiro; the head of ESTIA, Olivier Larre; and the manager of European projects and business consultant with South East Business & Innovation Centre, Michelle O’ Rourke.

The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council's Department of Sustainability is heading up this initiative to build on progress in the circularity of a key sector on our shoreline. In 2021 the Council set up the previous "Blue Point Getaria" project, a Sea Pollution and Blue Circular Economy Intelligence Centre located at fishery exchanges 30 and 31 in Getaria Harbour. Blue Point Getaria takes action to create public awareness with respect to sea waste, thereby helping to solve this global problem from the local perspective.

Blue Point is an ambitious project seeking to address the problem of marine plastics and turn it into an opportunity to establish a Blue Circular Economy in the regions of Gipuzkoa, Cantabria, Asturias, Portugal, France and Ireland. Plastic waste in the sea seriously affects biodiversity, health and the maritime economy. By way of a response, Blue Point will seek innovative solutions to retrieve and re-use marine plastics as raw materials, thus establishing a new value chain.

Now the Blue Point Consortium is consolidating through the participation of 13 partners representing a number of regions in the Atlantic Area: 2 in Gipuzkoa (the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and MIK, Mondragón University's Management Research Centre), 1 in Cantabria (SORDECAN), 2 in Asturias (the Government of the Principality of Asturias and Agrupación de Sociedades Asturianas de Trabajo Asociado y Economía Social - ASATA), 2 in Portugal (CVR - Centro para a Valorização de Resíduos and Laboratório da Paisagem), 3 in France (I Clean My Sea, Higher School of Advanced Industrial Technologies – Estia and Decathlon), and 3 in Ireland (Atlantic Technological University, University of Limerick and South East Business & Innovation Centre).

Photo: Blue Point

In a decisive move towards sustainability and preservation of our oceans, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council's Secretary for Sustainability, José Ignacio Asensio, said the following with regard to the Blue Point project: “Today we have reached a significant milestone in our commitment to sustainability and preservation of the oceans. Establishment of the Blue Point Consortium represents a joint effort to tackle one of the most urgent problems of our time: plastic pollution in our seas". Asensio reminded those present that "the oceans are our planet's most precious jewel, and plastic pollution is threatening their health and biodiversity. Blue Point seeks to retrieve and re-use marine plastics, establishing a sustainable value chain to the benefit of our local communities, encouraging the creation of jobs and new businesses based around the Blue Economy".

This project is based on a unique remarkable initiative to combat plastic pollution in the Atlantic Ocean, giving sustainability a boost and generating new opportunities for the Blue Economy. Blue Point takes a holistic approach to the problem, homing in on the identification of and trading in products and services arising from marine plastics. The initiative will help develop research, business and innovation for all agents operating on the chain, including shipowners and ports, and also entrepreneurs and the public at large.

The total budget for the project is 3,363,464.32 €, and 75% of this is funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme 2021-2027, in the amount of 2,522,598 €. The funds will be disbursed in the course of 2024, 2025 and 2026, with an annual budget of approximately 1 million euros.

In a remarkable turn of events, the Blue Point project was chosen by the European assessment committee for a grant of 75% of the total cost of the project in the first round of the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme 2021-2027.

According to the OECD's February 2022 report, our oceans contain 140 million tonnes of waste, and plastic accounts for 80% of it. The Blue Point project will focus on the Bay of Biscay, where estimates put the amount of marine plastics affecting the Atlantic-Cantabrian coast at over 55,000 tonnes.