The European Maritime Days 2024 took place on 30-31 May in Svendborg, Denmark. The Plastic Pirates, EU4ocean and BlueMissionBANOS and others organized a collective beach clean-up on 29 May at Christiansminde beach.

On May 4, 2024, the European institutions opened their doors for Europe Open Day Open Days 2024: Come visit us! - European Commission (europa.eu). The Plastic Pirates Lithuania @plasticpirateslietuva participated in the event, engaging visitors with fun and educational activities on microplastics, including experiments and a quiz.

It was an enjoyable and inspiring day! Thank you to everyone who visited us.

Attention! Mark your calendars for the Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! Summit on November 5-6, 2024! Join students, teachers, scientists, and policymakers as we discuss the outcomes, results, insights, and lessons learned from 2.5 years of expanding this citizen science initiative across Europe. Be part of our community shaping the future of one of Europe’s largest citizen science projects within the Mission "Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030." More information about the event will be shared soon.

We are looking forward to seeing you there. *Participation upon invitation only!*

During the fifth General Assembly, Plastic Pirate teams from across Europe gathered to collaborate on the future of the initiative. On April 16 and 18, the Plastic Pirates national teams shared their experiences from the spring sampling, planned the first pilot samplings for the Plastic Pirates Coastal booklet, and discussed cooperation on consolidating and making European-wide Plastic Pirates data available. We also explored the possibility of conducting the first Europe-wide scientific analysis of the data.

Stay tuned for more updates and an exciting 2024!

The "Piccoli grandi scienziati (e cittadini) crescono" project is an initiative based on the Citizen Science methodology that combines scientific education, civic commitment and environmental protection. In 2024 alone, the project has engaged 1500 students and 100 teachers along with researchers and experts to, among other, collecting data on river quality. The activities included the Plastic Pirates sampling of macro- and micro-plastics. On 10 and 13 May more than 220 students and 30 teachers celebrated with international and national guests including government representatives and NGOs their great success. The project is project promoted by the Cnr - Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies (Cnr-Dsstta).