
Zlarin - PLASTIC-FREE Island
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Published: 17.11.2018.
ECO Island
Three girls Ana, Nataša and Ivana from Zlarin island won the prize in the "anti-plastic fight". A lot of teams took part in two-days Bootcamp where they turned their project solutions into business models and presented them to the jury. The jury concluded that the idea of these girls was more than good, and they proclaimed girls as the winners.
Love by the sea as a stimulus for the project
Since all three girls love sea and nature, they decided to show the film "Plastic Ocean" at Zlarin and in Šibenik. A lot of people came to watch the film and they showed interest in the Earth without plastic, so that's how the idea of this project was born.
Zlarin - an ideal location for this experiment
Zlarin has only two hundred residents and there are only one supermarket and several restaurants and cafes, so this island is perfect to be successful in realizing this idea. Since the local community provides great support to the winner team, we do not doubt about the success of the project realization. You are probably wondering how plastic will be completely "eradicated" from the island.
The model is quite simple. For every drink you order at any of the many entertainment events held during the summer, you will have to pay a deposit of several kunas. After returning the glass to the booth, you'll get your money back. Of course, there will be those who will not care for a couple of kunas, and they will still leave a plastic glass anywhere. But our winners were thinking about everything, so someone else who finds a dumped glass and returns it to the booth will get the money. This model has already been used last year at Darko Rundek's concert and it has worked excellently. Also at the end of the summer season at Zlarin there are over 15 000 plastic bags that end up in the trash and what's worse there are so many plastic bags that you can find on the island and in the sea.
The goal is to completely remove the one-time used plastic bags, plates, glasses, cutlery and straws until next season to prevent that the plastic end up in the sea. There are always alternatives and acceptable solutions like canvas bags and washable dishes.
Zlarin is currently the only island in Croatia that said "NO" to plastic, and we hope that other places will follow its example. And it seems that the first neighbors - Prvić island will follow this positive example because they have already begun to inquire.