CLEAN OPERATION REACHES THE SHORES OF TURKEY FROM EUROPE
PAGEV LAUGHED AT THE FISH'S FACE

The Nets in the Marmara were thrown for the Clean Sea...

Plastics and the environment, one of the most discussed issues... Plastic manufacturers who want to explain that plastic waste, which is often seen as an environmental hazard, is recyclable and valuable material, signed an important project to meet the Environmental Day on June 5th. The Happy Fish Project, which will clean the wastes in the sea with special nets, started in Büyükada. After Istanbul, the cleaning operation will continue in other seas where pollution is experienced throughout Turkey.

The presentation of the “happy Fishes” project, initiated under the leadership of the Turkish Plastic Industry Research, Development and Education Foundation (pagev), was made in Büyükada. T.C. Thanks to the project supported by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanism, Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV) and the municipality of the islands, it is aimed to clean the seas from waste and recycle them by fishermen.

The European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC), a member of pagev, took the first step of WASDE Free Oceans on the southern coast of France last year. The project, which has an international dimension, is carried out on four continents: Europe, the USA, Far East-India, Middle East-Africa. The Waste Free Oceans movement was launched in Turkey following the Danube River in France, Belgium, Spain and Austria under the leadership of Pagev. Anna Rosbach, member of the European Parliament and Chairman of WFO Foundation, and Alexandre Dangis, General Secretary of EuPC, came to Turkey for the introduction of the project.

In the scope of the project implemented with the ban on hunting, fishermen with a special network to clean the sea surface from various wastes such as metal, glass, plastic, collected waste recycling of these wastes to be brought back to economy and hunting prohibition will be made with the additional income of fishermen will be provided with these studies.

The opening ceremony of the” happy Fishes " project began with the pier movement of the boat which connects the special network developed by the French fisherman Thomazeau for the Waste Free Oceans movement. This network was designed to not harm fish when cleaning sea-surface waste. The French fisherman who brought the network to Turkey gave the Turkish fishermen training on the use of the network before the event. A group of fishermen were accompanied by the “Happy Fish” Boat on the sea surface off Büyükada, the wastes were brought to the beach and loaded into the garbage container with a crane to be sent back to recycling.

During the ceremony on the promotion of the project, respectively; pagev 1. Vice President Yavuz Eroğlu, Eupc Secretary General Alexandre Dangis, TÜDAV Chairman and faculty member of Istanbul University Prof. Dr. Bayram Öztürk, member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the WFO Foundation Anna Rosbach, mayors of the Islands Prof. Mustafa farsikoglu, Pagev President Mehmet Uysal and Deputy Minister of Environment and Urbanism Mohammad Balta made speeches on the project's transition to life.

Pagev Chairman Mehmet Uysal stated that the Plastics Industry, which is one of the rapidly growing industrial branches of our country, is always ready to do its part in the environment as a responsible industry and happy fish project is also an important indicator of this. “Increasing usage rates all over the world show that plastics are now an indispensable part of our lives. The best solution for a sustainable environment is that of plastics, not us, but figures. With the Happy Fish project, we aimed to draw attention to the recycling of plastics as well as all the wastes., ” he said.

Plastic sector living in a country surrounded by the sea on three sides, the pollution caused by waste in the sea is not possible to ignore indicating Mehmet Uysal, Pagev ' s closely watched the developments in Europe for this purpose expressed. “Last year, the European Association of plastic processors (EuPC), which our foundation is a member of, launched the WASDE Free Oceans (WFO) movement, which took the support of the European Parliament. Believing the importance of this movement in terms of Environment and sustainability, we decided to carry it to our country and realized the “Happy Fish” Project.

Uysal, who pointed out that we are all responsible for the environment, said they expect support from other non-governmental organizations and government in order to achieve the project's purpose. In Europe, fishermen have benefited from the funds allocated by the European Union in order to encourage the removal of wastes from the sea, Uysal said, adding that thanks to the development of a similar model in our country, the scope of the project will be further expanded.

Pagev 1. In his speech, Yavuz Eroğlu, vice president and Chairman of the committee of “Happy fishes”, pointed out that the sustainability of the project is important and said: “during the beginning of the hunting ban within the scope of waste free oceans, a daily fee is paid from the “European Union fisheries and marine fund”for the fish to clean various wastes on the Unfortunately, as Turkey is not a member of the Union, it is not possible to benefit from this fund. Therefore, in order to ensure sustainability of the project, we expect contributions and support from our government, especially our Ministry of Environment and Urbanism.” Yavuz Eroğlu also believes that the “happy Fishes” project, which is an indication of its environmental responsibilities as pagev and plastic sector, will serve as an example for other sectors.

Eupc Secretary General Alexandre Dangis began his speech by showing him a plastic bottle and said, “plastic is not garbage.” As one of the main causes of pollution in the sea, the world waste management can not be done very well, plastic recycling can be done many times, he said.

The president of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation, Prof. Dr. Bayram Öztürk stated that it is very important to make such an attempt in the plastic sector, and when we look at the pollution situation in our seas, 53 percent of this is not originated from Turkey. In this case, sea pollution poses a danger not only for the country it belongs to, but also for all the seas of the world, Ozturk informed that marine pollution originated from ships and that wastes came from North Africa, the Pacific and even South America.

Anna Rosbach, member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the WFO Foundation, told the beginning story of the project “ one day I saw a picture of a giant plastic waste mass in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and this image bothered me. But personally, I couldn't do anything. At that moment, I had a lightning bolt in my head for this project. I thought about fishermen, when they don't hunt to protect their natural habitat and fish, they can hunt plastic waste. When I shared all this with my colleagues in the European Parliament, Maria Damanaki, President of the EU maritime and Fisheries Commission, believed in me and supported me. Thus, this initiative will protect the fish and clean our seas from waste. We started a very good volunteer movement where the plastics industry and fishermen came together.”

Mayor Of The Islands, Dr. Mustafa farsikoglu stated that they always supported environmental projects as the municipality of the islands. Pointing out that the islands have a unique place in Turkey and in the world with its location, characteristics and values, Farrakoglu expressed his satisfaction with the start of the Happy Fish Project in Büyükada.

Deputy Minister of Environment and Urbanism Mohammad Balta," air, water and soil are responsible for protecting. Our government is very sensitive to the environmental issue, we teach to keep it clean without pollution. We support projects related to infrastructure and environmental problems as a ministry, and distributed over a thousand vehicles to local governments for garbage collection. We do not do all this to show the originals of our natural beauties to future generations., ” he said. Muhammet Balta also called Anna Rosbach and asked the European Parliament to share these beauties.

The second stage of the Happy Fish, which was started in the Marmara Sea and around the islands, will be carried out in our other seas exposed to sea pollution. In the following period, it is aimed to reach all the coasts with high pollution rates and to create clean seas that are free of waste.