Lefteris Arapakis

Lefteris is engaging fishers as solution stakeholders for tackling social and environmental aspects of ocean degradation. Lefteris promotes the sustainability of the marine environment by professionalizing the fishing sector, educating to adopt cleaning practices and incorporating collected waste into a circular economy system of plastics value chain. He replicates the project outside Greece, going through his Mediterranean vision of caring about marine pollution, involving the fishing sector and proposing a mindset shift from the bottom up.

Lefteris was born into a family with a long tradition in the fishing sector which explains why he wanted to change the system starting from working with fishers. Having lived and worked alongside fishers since childhood, Lefteris realized that designing an intervention with a top-down approach and trying to convince the fishing industry to embrace it, would be a difficult task. Fishers, often people with little schooling who follow a family tradition, need to change their mindset from the inside out to become truly aware. He has built an inclusive model, retooling and reskilling fishers while providing them with an alternative additional income through a fishing school. He created a virtuous Mediterranean plastics value chain that will lead to the adoption of sustainable fishing practices, ending irresponsible and overfishing, and the plastic menace all of which will make Lefteris’ work obsolete in the next 15 years.

In 2016 he founded Enaleia, which means "with fishing”, a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving that every fisher is adopting sustainable practices and is involved in protecting the marine environment. His first insight was to turn part of the problem that resides in practices adopted by fishers to make them part of the solution. Fishers are an essential community in Greece. Greek fishers make up 20% of the total in Europe and are a workforce for whom there is a need for up-to-date professional training on sustainability issues, resulting in an aging industry and the adoption of bad practices. Lefteris began working with and for fishers, involving them in the design of programs that addressed their real challenges. He introduced the first professional fishing school in Greece with the aim of training unemployed people to become experienced fishers and continuing the professional development of existing ones.

The second insight into Lefteris’ vision was to create a Mediterranean plastic value chain, in which Enaleia started to involve and pay fishers for collecting plastics during enormous expeditions in the Mediterranean. In his overall design, collected plastics provide an alternative source of income for fishers. Subsequently it is not only collected but also transformed into sustainable products through collaboration with large recycling product companies. In these large expeditions, Lefteris aims to map pollution in the Mediterranean Sea so it has also introduced blockchain technology on board Enaleia's expedition ships. These programs have already been implemented in several areas of the Greek coast and its islands. Lefteris' program was implemented in Italy in 2021, in the northeastern coast of the peninsula. Thanks to European Commission projects, Lefteris has also replicated the value chain program in Kenya in 2022 and has recently started in Egypt and Spain this year.

UNEP 2023, The United Nations Environment Program, has set a goal of reducing current plastic pollution by 80 percent by 2040 with the new plastics treaty. Lefteris' vision on this point is very clear. Cleaning up is an important process that contributes to tackling plastic pollution, but it is not the end of the fight against it. That is why Enaleia participates in international environmental advocacy meetings, providing data and demonstrating the active role of fishing communities. Lefteris hopes that in the next 15 years, Enaleia will be obsolete because they can leave a big impact on the amount of plastic collected.

Oceans and marine environment are in danger. According to McArthur Foundation, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. There are many causes of marine pollution, but those addressable to the fishing sector are irresponsible fishing and overfishing. Demand for seafood and technological advances have led to worldwide fishing practices that deplete fish and shellfish populations. Scientists fear that continuing to fish at this rate may soon collapse the world's fisheries and that we must employ sustainable fishing practices. Overfishing also impacts climate change because having more fish and other marine life in the sea means more carbon sequestration – a vital process that locks carbon emissions away.

There are also two conflictual perspectives. Although both fishers and environmental NGOs wish to see the ocean in good health, they have an antagonistic perspective to each other. For example, in Greece, fishers' communities and NGOs don’t appreciate each other, because NGOs accuse them of being responsible for overfishing and neglecting plastic-conscious practices in their work.

The fishers' perspective is deeply rooted in tradition, often passing down the profession through family lines and particularly completing high school, is not common among them. Fishers are indeed a vulnerable workforce, often consisting of individuals around the age of 45 and supporting single-income families. This traditional approach has impacted the sustainability of the 15000 small fishers' community in Greece, as many of their techniques are not environmentally friendly. Over the years, they have faced significant challenges, witnessing a decline in fishing production during the 90s and grappling with an increase in plastics in the late 90s. The lack of awareness about plastic pollution in Greek society contributed to the issue, leading to plastic being discarded into the sea without thought.

Regrettably, the government's approach to address the fishing sector did not prioritize the professionalization of fishers. When the economic crisis hit Greece in 2008, and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita dropped from 31000 to 25000, the government's primary focus was on creating new jobs. In doing so, they attempted to reduce the number of fishing licenses by providing fishers with economic incentives to surrender their licenses and even resorted to physically destroying some fishing boats. While the government paid a compensation to fishers that they could reinvest in a new business and succeeded in reducing licenses by 50%, this measure failed to resolve the crisis faced by this vulnerable segment of the population.

On the flip side, environmentalists hold a passionate perspective, driven by the alarming rise of plastic pollution in our oceans. While they also care about the overfishing issue, they tend to view fishers, particularly those associated with industrial fishing vessels, as contributing to the problem. According to WWF, supported by official EU reports, a staggering 80% of these industrial vessels are still financed by the European Fund. These vessels, with their dangerously powerful and potentially destructive gear, are owned by a small group of individuals, yet they account for a significant 95% of the overall catch, concentrating the quota in fewer hands. This disparity in ownership has led environmental NGOs to exclude fishers from specific operations focused on tackling plastic collection.

This lack of cooperation has hindered concrete and widespread solutions in the Mediterranean, as disagreements arise between those who aim to combat plastic pollution, including environmentalists, and the fishers. However, some progress has been made through the use of specially designed boats for cleaning operations, involving specialists, technicians, and experts. Unfortunately, these initiatives have not integrated fishers, leaving them feeling marginalized despite being directly impacted by this pressing issue.

Lefteris created Enaleia aiming to reach a change in the marine sector by involving all the ecosystem stakeholders in it.

The school for fishers was the first step of his systemic change vision, with a bottom-up approach. The Enaleia fishing school trains new generations of fishers about marine pollution, sustainable fishing, and new techniques such as how to collect and dispose of plastic waste properly at the port - through in-person classes, interactive workshops, and an e-learning platform. The school invented by Lefteris has achieved some relevant impact data on the educational level, but especially on the economic return for the fishers. From an educational perspective, over 80% of graduates are hired and employed within three months of program completion, 10% opt for a fishing tourism profession instead of commercial fishing and over 300 fishers have trained in sustainable fishing tourism in 19 locations so far.

Over time the program evolved to create job diversification and decrease pressure on overfishing. Lefteris started to involve fishers in fishing tourism activities, this allowed him to attract more women into the fishing sector. But also, fishers started to learn how to sell fish at the market or how to work in fish restaurants. These innovative approaches provide fishermen with an alternative source of income; for example, fishers mobilized for tourism, fishing and culinary tours increase their income to €1,000 per day instead of €1,000 per month, which was the initial income. Fishers discovered how to differentiate between fishing and tourism, and they started to be remunerated also for the plastic they turn in; something that acts as an incentive for them to reduce overfishing. Enaleia created a virtuous plastic value chain, paying fishers for collected plastics while they are fishing. When a fisher gets back to the port, there is a person hired by Enaleia managing plastic collections and paying the fishers. The usual revenue for fishing is from 1000€ to 5000€ per month and only 10€ to 50€ for plastic. So, fishers do it because they have become more connected to the cause instead of doing it for money and simply began to fit into their work routine They are more aware of the impact of their work by expanding their own professional and value horizons.

Enaleia implements the largest and effective action in the field of marine clean up, entitled "Mediterranean clean up", in cooperation with more than 230 professional fishing vessels from 21 ports throughout Greece. Each fishing vessel participating in the above programme receives a monthly fee per kilogram of plastic waste collected. Since Enaleia collaborates with the fishers to collect the plastic during their fishing expeditions, the cost for acquiring plastics is very competitive: Enaleia spends 2.5€ per ton, versus the average cost for professional plastic collection of 20€ per kilo. The collected plastic is then sent to various plastic recyclers working in circular economy systems. They are partners in the Circular Economy Network that Lefteris has built up over the years, consisting of companies that produce clothing, technical products or furniture from recycled plastic fibers. Enaleia recycles 58% of all plastics collected, by bringing it into a system of circular economy, compared to the top three industries in the set that achieve only a 10%.According to Enaleia's internal data, 5% of the amount collected is plastic bottles, which are shipped to Spain. 16% is obsolete fishing gear, which is shipped to Healthy Seas, a company specialized in the phenomenon of ghost fishing, which is responsible for the unnecessary death of marine animals. The rest of the plastic collected by Enaleia is processed into pellets, a raw material for many industries also used for energy production, and easier to compact for waste storage

These programs have already been implemented in several areas of the Greek coast and its islands. Lefteris came to Italy in 2021 on the northeastern coast of the peninsula through a partnership with Legacoop Agroalimentare Emilia-Romagna. Enaleia began working with cooperatives in Italy to collect the fishing gear directly from them, despite a legal restriction that did not allow plastic to be collected at sea. Lefteris has also been a part of the process of changing policy, to have the same permits for plastic collection as in Greece. The replication strategy combines scaling partners and a social franchise model. The idea is to choose countries where plastic pollution is a big problem and where there is work being done by the fishing communities involved. The other point is that governments need to have recycling facilities in place. In this sense, Kenya is piloting the global scaling up goal that Lefteris started in 2022 because he has found that this country is one of the most advanced countries in recycling facilities and local people who are working on this issue have built up a lot of trust around them. He starts operations in Egypt and Spain this year, and Cyprus in July 2023 as part of his Mediterranean strategy that involves 2,500 fishers today. In a year, Lefteris will reach 5,000 in all the countries involved. Now he collects 25 tons per month but with the expansion he will reach the goal of 50 tons.

Enaleia had a revenue of 750.000 euros in 2022 and Lefteris expects to reach a turnover of 2 million euros by the end of 2023. He projected a profit margin of 400.000 euros for this year that will be re-invested the next year in the expansion of operations in Italy and other countries. He is using the "clean up as a service" marketing strategy in cooperation with major recycling companies. He introduced traceability components through blockchain technology, allowing data regarding weight, components, toxicity and other indicators on the composition of collected plastics, to be processed within a distributed database that is less cyber attackable. The plastic waste chain is long and can be difficult to follow. The problem of plastic waste and the harrowing statistics about how, of the immense amount of plastic waste produced, only a small percentage is recycled properly are well known. Most of these plastic items that are not recycled end up in landfills, are shipped to developing countries that lack the infrastructure to recycle them or pollute our oceans and natural environment. Lefteris introduced a tech data approach to reinforce his impact goals, add more transparency and traceability to the entire collection process. Blockchain technology stores information on a decentralized computer network, so that no one person owns the network or can corrupt it, but everyone can access and use it. The blockchain uses cryptography to ensure that records cannot be forged or changed, allow certified recycled plastics to be better tracked and prevent cases of greenwashing and mixing of materials. Lefteris uses blockchain to better measure his plastic value chain and becoming data partner for governmental policy makers working on marine environment protection.

Lefteris' family has a long history of fishing - his father is a fifth-generation professional fisherman - and the sea and fishing have always been an integral part of his life. His memories of working on trawlers date back to his early childhood. During his high school years, Lefteris worked alongside his father on fishing boats. As a student, he joined the main fish processing plant in Athens.

Lefteris was the first member of his family to graduate from university. He studied economics. During the Greek economic crisis, Lefteris was very involved in student organizations. It was during this time that he discovered a start-up competition and decided to participate. He invented an embryonic school for fishers. At the time, the Greek state was in search of different ways to deal with the rise in unemployment. He noticed that unemployment in the business sector was skyrocketing. However, the situation in the fishing industry was completely different. He decided to act by combining his deep passion for the marine environment and his concern for growing unemployment.

His involvement in the fishing industry since early childhood gave Lefteris the gift of being able to relate to the fishers. He understands their pain and speaks their language. His studies equipped him with all the necessary tools to build a sustainable business. His active involvement in groups and international student associations sharpened his communication and inspiration skills.

He founded Enaleia in 2016 with the help of a social impact grant. He launched the first pilot fishing school. To date, Lefteris has received several major awards and honors as an ambassador for the Mediterranean coast, such as the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award 2022 for his work to combat pollution in the Mediterranean. He was named a Young Champion of the Earth in 2020 by the United Nations Environment Programme. Lefteris has the mindset of a serial social entrepreneur. His vision inspires him to pursue his goal of revolutionizing the fishing industry by replicating his method and adapting it to different local contexts.