Organised in collaboration with MedWaves and DEHUKAM, the “Sustainable Management and Valorization of Marine Litter in İzmir” took place on 30 September 2026, with the participation of experts from public institutions, local authorities, academia, the private sector and civil society organisations. The programme began with opening speeches by Dr Mustafa Başkara, CEO of DEHUKAM, and Matias Ibáñez Sales, Operations Coordinator for Medwaves, and continued with the presentation of the Marine Litter Action Platform, developed by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change as part of the COP31 Action Agenda.

At the event, also known as the Izmir Transformative Innovation Policy Laboratory (Izmir TIPLab), stakeholders presented systematic and transformative solutions to turn marine litter – which has become a local problem – into a valuable resource under the guidance of Prof. Dr. İstemi Berk – the coordinator of the İzmir TIPLab project.

During the round-table discussions moderated by DEHUKAM researchers, participants first identified the key elements of a shared vision for the sustainable management and valorization of marine litter in Izmir. Participants then assessed the barriers hindering the implementation of this vision and the factors that could facilitate the process under headings such as governance, legislation, data infrastructure, technology, funding, market capacity and behavioural change, and discussed what could be done for Izmir in the short, medium and long term.

In addition, based on presentations on the technologies and solutions developed by other Interreg Euro-MED Thematic Projects (TPs), the participants discussed what had been done previously, which of these were suitable for Izmir, and potential collaborations.