This Greek ship has collected enough waste from remote shorelines to fill 22 Olympic swimming pools

The 20-member cleaning team has created the largest database on marine pollution in the Mediterranean. With the longest coastline of any country on the Mediterranean, Greece is blessed with sandy beaches, rocky coves and idyllic islands. But it also faces a rubbish problem – especially on inaccessible shores. That's where the Typhoon comes in, a 72-metre-long vessel dedicated to cleaning up the Greek coastline. Every day, its 20-member cleaning crew gathers, sorts and documents between 500-1,000 kilograms of waste. Over the past seven years, the Typhoon Project has completed over 10,000 clean up operations, retrieving 1,140 tonnes of trash – enough to fill around 22 Olympic-sized swimming pools or 1,160 large shipping containers – from remote shores that are not connected to the roads or businesses. In most cases, it is not litter left by swimmers on the beach, but waste carried there by sea currents. That is how a beer can with an advert in Spanish for a World Cup from the 1990s ended up on the islet, Patroklos. It lies in the Saronic Gulf, around 65 nautical miles from Athens. The programme, which began in July 2019, is an initiative of the Public Benefit Foundation 'Athanassios C. Laskaridis'. By February 2023 the first cycle of clean-ups of the island and most of the mainland coastline had been completed. 'The largest database on marine pollution in the Mediterranean' Accessing the shores on five inflatable boats, the team gathers waste and takes it on board the ship. But their work does not end there. Besides sorting and transporting the waste to be recycled in the appropriate facilities, there is also the recording and analysis of the data, which is just as important. "One part of the project is collecting the waste, but the second is collecting the data. We carry out detailed recording of all the waste. We know exactly what quantity there is, how many kilos, how many items from each beach. At the moment we have the largest database on marine pollution in the Mediterranean, and we are developing it every day," Thanasis Besios, manager of the Typhoon Project, tells Euronews. The Public Benefit Foundation 'Athanassios C. Laskaridis' started its activities around nine years ago and focuses on three main pillars: protecting the environment, and especially the sea, supporting micro-entrepreneurship and making donations to third parties for the common good. After seven years of activity in Greek waters, the Typhoon Project's tally is as impressive as it is discouraging. "With the Typhoon we have collected more than 1,140 tonnes of waste. To help people picture it in their minds, we are talking about 22 Olympic-size swimming pools or around 1160 large containers," notes Peggy Xirotagarou, Executive Director at the Public Benefit Foundation 'Athanassios C. Laskaridis'. 'A large proportion of the waste comes from inland' But pollution is not a problem that affects only the sea. In many places across the country, uncontrolled, illegal landfills are still operating. "By observing the waste we were finding on the shores, we realised that a large proportion came from inland. So, in 2024, we created a new programme, called Cyclone. It involves large-scale clean-ups in lakes, rivers and archaeological sites. We have created three large teams in different parts of Greece, where every day we collect more than 1,000 kilos of waste," says Peggy Xirotagarou. The Typhoon Project cooperates with the Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography of the Department of Geology at the University of Patras to study benthic waste in the Saronic and Thermaic Gulfs, and with the Marine Remote Sensing Research Group of the University of the Aegean to locate and map plastics using modern technology. It also organises activities with the schools on the islands it visits. "In every place we visit, we have a holistic approach. Our work is not limited to clean-ups. There are educational programmes that we have designed and run. So in every place we go we also bring the schools in. We go into the classrooms and take the children to the beaches to raise their awareness. Because that is the ultimate goal. For them to become responsible citizens and for this reckless use of single-use plastics to stop," Peggy Xirotagarou tells Euronews.