MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A IPA Hungary Serbia

Date of latest update: 2026-06-05

Description

Description (EN):

Plastics have become a part of our everyday life over the past decades. The household, clothes, cosmetics and food packaging is made from plastic, and since microbes cannot break them down, their waste materials remain in the environment for centuries. As a result of human activity, Microplastics are now ubiquitous on our planet – they’re found all over the place, including fresh Antarctic snow, our bodies, and pose alarming threat to the environment and public health. The main sources of microplastics in the water ecosystem are synthetic fibre materials, packaging, cosmetics, rubber and up to hundreds of thousands of microscopic plastic fibres from household appliances that go down the drain. Moreover, a good part of the microplastic dust settles in cities and along roads and is washed into the soil and sewage network with the precipitation. Creating a cross border cooperation is necessary for efficiently and effectively tackling the identified problem. Microplastics pollution is mainly allocated to the water bodies and most of them consist of a net of canals, streams and rivers finally ending up in big rivers. This makes the problem cross border, and reducing the pollution upstream of the river will reduce the pollution downstream. The MICROPLASTICS project focuses on preserving nature in the Cross border area (Bačka/Bács-Kiskun) by identifying the sources of pollution and reducing the level of the water ecosystem pollution by microplastics. In order to do so, the project aims at establishing effective partnership for protection and preservation of nature. The project will directly contribute to programme objective in enhancing protection, preservation of Nature and reducing the microplastics pollution within the wider programme area. This will be achieved through a specific set of outcomes. Firstly, by determining the extent and amount of microplastics pollution within the water ecosystems (river, canals and wastewater treatment facilities) and identifying the sources of pollution within the CBC region, including protected locations Gornje Podunavlje, Begečka jama, Nature Park Gemenc, Riha Oxbow lake. After the identification a regional system for measuring and monitoring of microplastics will be established and recommendations for increasing the efficiency of measures to protect nature and the environment will be developed. Furthermore, within the pilot action project partners will be designing and testing the filtration solution for wastewater treatment facilities and identifying the waste water treatment facilities in the region for potential replication of project outcomes in the future. Finally, engaging school children, public officials, experts and the general public in educational and awareness raising activities the project will contribute to environmental awareness and therefore reduce water and soil pollution and deterioration of natural habitats.

Expected Achievements (EN):

A set of outcomes is planned for achieving the project goal. First outcome will result in an implemented project and achieved communication objective, this way ensuring long term cooperation between partners and efficient capitalization of all the project results. Second outcome will result in enabled partner organisations/public experts to collect and process acquired samples. Acquired equipment necessary for collecting and processing of the open surface water, wastewater, and sediments samples, will result in conducted measurements finally resulting in developed protocols for future activities in monitoring of water ecosystem pollution on microplastics. Procured equipment, developed protocols and educated personnel/public health experts will ensure the sustainability of the result after the project ends while the partner organisations will use these results within their daily operations benefiting the community in the long term. Third project outcome will result in implemented pilot action with developed adequate method on filtration of waste water and developed scalable filter for 2 wastewater treatment plants in the CBC area with the measurement on efficiency of applied solution. This will be followed by mapped wastewater treatment plants in the CBC area. Durability of result is within using the filters after the project ends benefiting the community and nature while the measurements and mapping will ensure sustainability as it will provide new research knowledge and potential for replication of the pilot action results. Fourth outcome will result in raised awareness and educated target groups, namely school children, public officials, enviro NGOs and the general public on the scope of microplastic pollution in the CBC area, but also on the negative impact that microplastics pollution has on nature. Educated target groups will ensure the durability of results while developed educational/informational material and ICT platform will exploit results continuously.

Thematic information

Innovation capacity and awareness-raising Soil and air quality Waste and pollution

Type of intervention: 079 Nature and biodiversity protection, natural heritage and resources, green and blue infrastructure

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Institut za javno zdravlje Vojvodine

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 100208

Address: Futoška 121, 21102 Novi Sad, Serbia

Department address: Novi Sad

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Other

Website: http://izjzv.org.rs/

Total budget: EUR 334 892.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 284 658.20

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 85.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 50 233.80

Contractors:

Name: Superlab doo
VAT registration or tax identification number: 101822498
Name: Analysis doo Beograd
VAT registration or tax identification number: 100429024

Fond "Evropski poslovi" Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine

Name: Fond "Evropski poslovi" Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 100199

Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 16, P.O. box 2, 21108 Novi Sad, Serbia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Other

Website: https://vojvodinahouse.eu/

Total budget: EUR 140 676.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 119 574.60

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 85.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 21 101.40

Zavod za javno zdravlje Sombor

Name: Zavod za javno zdravlje Sombor

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 100259

Address: Vojvođanska 47, 25000 Sombor, Serbia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Other

Website: http://www.zzjzsombor.org

Total budget: EUR 334 262.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 284 122.70

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 85.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 50 139.30

Contractors:

Name: PREDUZEĆE ZA PROIZVODNJU, TRGOVINU I USLUGE SUPERLAB DOO BEOGRAD (NOVI BEOGRAD)
VAT registration or tax identification number: 101822498

Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem

Name: Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 100173

Address: Ludovika tér 2., 1441 Budapest Pf.: 60., 1083 Budapest, Hungary

Department address: Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca 14., 6500 Baja

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://en.uni-nke.hu/

Total budget: EUR 562 498.40

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 478 123.64

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 85.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 84 374.76

Contractors:

Name: Unicam Magyarország Kft.
VAT registration or tax identification number: 10853940-2-42
Name: SERCO Informatika Zrt.
VAT registration or tax identification number: 27880056-2-41

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Fond "Evropski poslovi" Autonomne Pokrajine Vojvodine

MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Partners and Projects info

Public Health Institute Sombor

MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Partners and Projects info

Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina

MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Partners and Projects info

Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem

MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Project acronym: MICROPLASTICS

Project ID: HUSRB/23R/12/089

Project start date: 2024-07-01

Project end date: 2026-06-30

Project status: ongoing

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 372 328.40

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 166 479.14

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 85.00%

Co-financing sources:

IPA/IPA II/IPA III: Amount, EUR 1 166 479.14. Co-financing rate, 85.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

Efforts to remove microplastics from water align with the broader goals of the Danube Strategy in terms of environmental protection and promoting sustainable development in the region. The project Microplastics corresponds closely with Priority Area 4 and Priority Area 6 of the EUSDR. It aligns with the goals of improving water quality, protecting the environment, preserving biodiversity and landscapes, and taking an integrated approach to address environmental issues in the Danube region.
Furthermore, the project is well-aligned to the Adrion Programme, as it contributes to environmental protection, water quality improvement, and sustainable tourism in the Adriatic-Ionian region.
Project is also related to number of strategies in Serbia, Waste Management Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, Water Management Strategy, Sustainable Development Strategy and Circular Economy Strategy by directly contributing to reduction of microplastics in water ecosystem, targeting improper waste disposal, protecting aquatic habitats and wildlife from pollution, achieving the desired ecological and chemical status of rivers and streams, promoting responsible use of natural resources, and supporting the conservation of ecosystem through project activities.
Finally project contributes to number of Hungarian policies: Waste Management and Recycling Initiatives, Environmental Conservation and Biodiversity Protection initiative, Water Quality and The Concept for Global Responsibility Education, addressing through its activities plastic waste that might not be effectively managed or recycled, safeguarding aquatic ecosystems and protecting wildlife, maintaining clean and healthy water bodies and contributing to encouraging public awareness about the detrimental effects of plastic pollution. PP3 has also conducted a number of projects related to sustainable and innovative water management systems and processes for water treatment systems that have direct synergy with the project.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:
RCO 115 - Public events across borders jointly organised, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO115) Public events across borders jointly organised: 1.0

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSDR

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-A IPA Hungary Serbia

Latest month of project-partner-call data publication

2026-06

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

60 / 60 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

158 / 158 (100%)

Notes on the data

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MInimizing CROssborder water contamination of microPLASTICS

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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