MISP, a project to better understand and reduce plastic pollution in the Venice Lagoon

The MISP project (MIsure Sperimentali nei corsi d’acqua del Distretto delle Alpi Orientali per la cattura dei rifiuti e delle Plastiche galleggianti – Experimental measures in Eastern Alps District waterways for the capture of floating waste and plastics) aims to improve knowledge of waste and plastic pollution and to reduce floating waste in the Venice Lagoon and in selected rivers flowing into it, consequently limiting the arrival of floating garbage in the north part of the Adriatic Sea.

The project is financed by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security under Law No. 60/2022 (“SalvaMare” Law) and is coordinated by the Eastern Alps District – River basin Authority (Autorità di Bacino Distrettuale delle Alpi Orientali).

MISP project, for the purpose of reduce plastic pollution, includes two main experimental measures, which are: positioning of three floating waste capture barriers in three different rivers of the catchment draining into the Venice Lagoon, and the construction and operation of a prototype boat equipped with technology for capturing floating waste in the Venice Lagoon.

The Venice Lagoon is an extremely valuable and complex environment from both a naturalistic and cultural perspective. Together with the city of Venice, the lagoon is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and is included in the Natura 2000 network. This particular aquatic environment is affected by multiple anthropogenic pressures, among which plastic waste pollution is one of the most critical. Increasing knowledge of the quantity, distribution and movement of floating plastic waste is essential for planning effective mitigation actions.

A core component of the MISP project is a tracking activity aimed at studying floating plastic pathways within the Venice Lagoon and identifying accumulation areas that will be important for the boat operation. During 2025 and early 2026, about 170 GPS trackers have been deployed at different locations in the lagoon and at selected river mouths. The trackers are designed to simulate the floating plastic waste targeted by the project and consist of floating plastic jars containing a GPS device. Each tracker can transmit its position every 18 hours, and the collected data are visualized and analysed through a WebGIS platform that reconstructs trajectories and supports spatial analysis.

Data analysis through the WebGIS will provide various results, such as:  waste transport dynamics and accumulation patterns in the study area, average distance travelled by floating waste, environmental conditions that influence the movement or retention of floating litter (e.g.  wind, tides, storms, shoreline vegetation, and lagoon hydrodynamics).

All these results will enable a more efficient waste collection with the project boat and a future sharing of them with local stakeholders will be useful for other waste collection initiatives in the project area.