Waste was collected during beach and sea clean-up campaigns which were part of ‘Keep Our Sand and Sea Plastic Free,‘ and undertaken with the cooperation of organised groups, local authorities and businesses in Cyprus.

The sea clean-ups were carried out as part of GPM-HENKEL and Dixan’s initiative ‘Clean In Depth’ environmental campaign, where divers collected waste from the sea floor to the surface.

‘CALYPSO’ was inspired and created by the artist Vangelis Evangelou, who used the plastic waste to stress the longevity of plastic as a material, since plastic can remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

 Theodoros Pyrillis, mayor, Paralimni, noted, “[…] the sea turtle named ‘CALYPSO’ created from plastic waste, collected from clean up campaigns of the beach and seabed, was placed on the beach of Ayia Triada in Paralimni, and aims to eliminate single use plastics in the coastal areas of the free Famagusta district.”

The Travel Foundation, the TUI Care Foundation and Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative’s (CSTI) joint project ‘Keep Our Sand and Sea Plastic Free’ was launched in 2019 to cut the consumption of single use plastic in the Famagusta district.

Local hotels, bars and restaurants are being supported with training and guidance to find alternatives to purchasing plastic items such as straws, cups, cutlery, bottles, bags and take-away food containers.