Can you tell us your role in the project and how your expertise contributes to the project’s mission?
ESDAK, a public legal entity, is the largest Solid Waste Management Association on the island of Crete, Greece. Our Association is tasked with the implementation of the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan for our members which are 17 municipalities from three of four prefectures of Crete (Heraklion, Rethymnon and Lasithi).
ESDAK plays an important role as a Use Case Leader and coordinates the demonstration of innovative solutions for the monitoring and removal of organic contaminants from landfill leachate. Specifically, an innovative microfluidic water treatment system for the removal of organic micropollutants from leachate will be validated at the ESDAK Leachate Treatment Plant at the Municipal Sanitary Landfill of Pera Galini, Crete. In addition, electrochemical sensors will be deployed for the monitoring of CoECs and heavy metals. Ecotoxicity tests of the innovative remediation system effluent will also be carried out. The one-month demonstration period will take place in spring 2026 and is expected to provide valuable insights into the operation of the leachate treatment plant.
ESDAK also contributes to the communication and dissemination activities of the project, focusing on how the principles of the solid waste management hierarchy could be applied to the CoECs’ pollution issues.
What do you think are the main benefits that the project brings forward, and in which areas do you envision the project having its biggest impact?
There is a considerable lack of knowledge about the life cycle of CoECs in the Mediterranean ecosystem, their ecotoxicological significance, their cumulative and synergistic effects with each other and their impact on human health and the environment.
In Crete, for example, many CoECs are contained in products and are disposed of via the wastewater stream and solid waste disposal. The conventional wastewater or leachate treatment plants are not designed to effectively remove these pollutants. As a result, removal may be limited even with advanced (tertiary) treatment. Therefore, one of the main impacts of the iMERMAID project is to improve the quality of several types of treated wastewater in the Mediterranean region.
The scalability and adaptability of the solutions will also extend the expectations of the project beyond the Mediterranean and inspire similar initiatives in other areas with high anthropogenic pressure.
If you had to describe the iMERMAID project in one word, what would that be?
“Innovation”. iMERMAID contributes to increasing knowledge about the life cycle of CoECs and their impact on the environment and public health. This knowledge forms the basis for the development of innovative technologies for the monitoring and remediation of micropollutants in the Mediterranean basin.
