LISAP - Laboratory of Sanitary Environmental Engineering of Pisa

In the circular economy approach, the BIOSMARTFERT project aims to define the production chain of a new generation of renewable biofertilisers with a modulated release, defined below as SMART release FERTilisers (SRF), derived from digestate of biowaste. First, the granule part of the SRF will be produced from an anaerobic biorefinery by treating agri-food wastes. Then they will be encapsulated and covered with degradable biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), also produced by anaerobic biorefinery.

Head of Operational Unit: Renato Iannelli
Principal Investigator: Grazia Masciandaro
Lead Partner: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

DESCRIPTION:

GRRinPORT is a project launched in April 2018, with a duration of 36 months, until 2021. The objective of GRRinPORT is to improve the quality of marine waters in ports by limiting the impact of port activities and maritime traffic on the environment.

To this end, GRRinPORT aims to define a set of best practices for the management of waste and wastewater, in accordance with the principles of resource valorization and circular economy. The best practices are aimed at managing entities and users of port areas and can be extended to all ports in the Program area and, prospectively, to the entire Mediterranean basin.

The purpose of GRRinPORT is to reposition port structures in an eco-sustainable and eco-innovative context with a cross-border cooperation approach, based on some innovative elements. In fact, the main negative effect of the current waste/wastewater management system in ports, namely water pollution, is mainly due to the lack of information and awareness among port users, the lack/absence of disposal infrastructures in ports, but also the need for users to adapt to different rules/procedures in each port/country.

GRRinPORT aims to achieve the project objectives through: i) the definition of Action Plans for the sustainable management of waste, wastewater, and sediments, addressed to managing entities and users of port areas, ii) the implementation of specific Pilot Actions on wastewater and sediments, thus contributing to the dissemination of common and virtuous approaches among structures located in different countries but sharing the same marine environment, the Mediterranean Sea, and enhancing port structures beyond mere functionality, also by creating – if absent – or strengthening – if lacking – the connection between waste and wastewater management strategies in the involved ports and the territorial realities in which they are inserted.

PARTNERS: 

Università di Cagliariniversità di Cagliari (coordinato)
Destec - Università di Pisa 
Regione Autonoma della Sardegna 
Mediterranean Sea and Coast Foundation (MEDSEA)
Université de Corse Pasquale Paoli
Office des Transports de la Corse (OTC) 
Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA)

The project aims to reduce the environmental pollution in areas surrounding ports and river mouths, exploiting the results already obtained by "GRRInPORT" project (Interreg IT-FR MARITTIMO 2014-2020) and previous programmes. Discharges from port activities and maritime traffic have significant impacts on the marine environment, while waterways represent the main transport route of waste and contaminants towards the sea, thus making the areas adjacent to these bodies particularly vulnerable due to the strong anthropic pressure on them.
GRRInPort2 promotes the integrated management of water, beach waste and contaminated marine sediments, addressing common challenges of the reference Area such as innovation, industrial transition, digital transition and long-term competitiveness of the area, which require cross-border cooperation to achieve cohesion and uniformity of processes.
The project consists of 3 complementary WPs aimed at monitoring the levels of fecal contamination in the waters, management and valorization of beach waste, decontamination and recovery of contaminated marine sediments, respectively, proposing alternative methods to conventional techniques and considering the notable presence of islands in the Area.
In each WP, studies and activities are planned in pilot sites where emergencies and critical issues related to the project themes have been recorded, such as the seaside area adjacent to the Fiumetto stream in Tonfano (Pietrasanta), the Muraglione beach near Viareggio and the beaches of the municipalities of San Vincenzo, Castiglione della Pescaia and Orbetello in Tuscany; the Rio Foxi beach and the area adjacent to the Palma Canal in the port area of Cagliari in Sardinia; the gulf of Saint Florent and the port area of Centuri in Corsica. The elements of novelty that characterize the project can be found in a series of fundamental aspects:

1) the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), equipped with a thermal imager and/or a multispectral camera, for the identification of faecal contamination levels in water;
2) the direct involvement of territorial authorities, managers of the waste collection and treatment services and The Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) to specifiy the End of Waste criteria on beach waste, through biological and thermochemical treatments;
3) the updating of the Action Plan drawn by GRRinPORT project for the sustainable recovery of contaminated marine sediments through combined biological and advanced oxidation treatments, providing the use of byproducts (including the hydrochar recovered from treatments on beach waste);
4) the validation of the environmental and economic sustainability of processes through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) analyses.

The purpose of GRRInPort2 is the development of common Solutions, Strategies and Action Plans, which will be adopted by organizations.
The multidisciplinarity of the project requires the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders. In addition to the project partners, the knowledge and methods will be transferred to the target groups and organizations that have shown explicit interest in project results and the adoption of the developed products. Specifically, Regional Agencies and Environmental Protection Offices will be able to benefit from an adaptable and eco-innovative tool for large-scale monitoring of faecal contamination levels in water, which allows rapid and effective actions to reduce bans and risks related to bathing and human health. Territorial authorities, municipalities and companies involved in waste management services will benefit from End of Waste criteria and cohesive protocols that favor the treatment and valorization of beach waste, potentially reducing the costs necessary for its management. Port authorities and environmental protection bodies will be able to benefit from an updated and optimized Action Plan, both from an environmental and economic perspective, for the remediation and recovery of contaminated marine sediments. In general, the developed Solutions and Plans will benefit the entire Program Area and the Mediterranean, since the have been developed to encourage their replicability and standardization on different territories from an environmental, social and administrative point of view.

The project was funded by the European Union for over 1.5 million euros and involves the collaboration of 7 entities located between Sardinia, Tuscany and Corsica: 

two universities (Pisa and Cagliari), a research body (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale - ISPRA), two local administrations (ATO Rifiuti Toscana Sud and the French Office for Biodiversity) and two third sector bodies (MEDSEA Foundation and Petra Patrimonia Corsica). The project has a duration of 36 months, starting from February 2025.

LP1, DESTEC - UNIPI: https://www.destec.unipi.it
PP2, ISPRA: www.isprambiente.gov.it
PP3, DICAAR - UNICA: https://www.unica.it
PP4, OFB - PNMCCA: https://www.ofb.gouv.fr
PP5, ATS Rifiuti: www.atotoscanasud.it
PP6, MEDSEA: www.medseafoundation.org
PP7, PPC: www.petrapatrimonia-corse.com