A study by the journal Science Advance published an edifying study on 19 July 2017. Since the 1950s – when plastic begins to be used on a large scale – 8.3 billion tons of plastic were produced – equivalent to 822,000 Eiffel Tower. From this, 6.3 billion tons have become waste, from which only 9% have been recycled, 12% cremated and 79% are found in discharges and in nature. They will be 25 billion tons in 2050. Every year more than 8 million tons (estimate of the Science Magazine for 2010) of plastic end up in the seas and oceans.
The diver Caroline Power has filmed off the Caribbean, near the shores of Honduras, the monster of Roatan, that is a plastic island, a pile of garbage, floating dump of 2 miles wide that continues to extend.
Video : https://www.facebook.com/scienze.fanpage/videos/1525573934216496/
The fauna (birds, fish, etc.) dies asphyxiated due to the plastic threads. More than 660 species of fish, crustaceans and mammals are threatened by the ingestion of plastic pieces, as well as half of the bird species. For example, in March 2012, was found 17 kilos of plastic in the belly of a sperm whale stranded on a beach in Andalousia.
A monster like that of Roatan is not alone, many others are scattered in every sea and ocean, of which each of us is responsible.
In Europe, the Union has financed a study for the Adriatic and Ionian seas: “Marine litter assessment in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas” published in 2017:
The results are scary: on the beaches there are 658 waste per km2, on the aquatic surface 332 and on the seabed 510. The waste is: plastic pieces, cotton buds, plastic stopper, bags, polystyrene, polystyrene containers, food containers, cigarette butts, mollusc and fishing net, bottles, buoys, fishing lines, fishing tackle. The worst is that the plastic is also fragmented into tiny pieces, which eat fish and molluscs, fish and shellfish that we find in our dishes. In the Mediterranean an average of 1.25 million fragments per Km2 is estimated. In the stretch of sea between Tuscany and Corsica, the presence of about 10 kilograms of microplastics per square kilometre was recorded.
The European interdiction (Directive (EU) 2015/720) of plastic bags to remedy this problem (even plastic bags of which 500 billion are made annually represent 40% of marine waste) is far from sufficient when almost everything you buy and put in paper bags or your supermarket carrels is packed with plastic or sold in plastic containers (yogurt, milk, etc.).
Collective irresponsibility
Even close to home, the irresponsibility of the inhabitants, fishermen, tourists, yachtsmen, who throw away their garbage and especially the incompetence and irresponsibility of the local and regional policy makers, who do nothing to prevent it and to clean beaches and seas, prepares us trash beaches, destruction of the local fauna, and pollution of what we eat coming from the sea.
A local example: the Feniglia forest beach in Tuscany
Un esempio, nella bellissima Toscana: la spiaggia e foresta della Feniglia, Monte Argentario, comuni di Orbetello, Porto Ercole, Ansedonia. Da anni, la plastica è onnipresente sulla spiaggia, il vento la porta nelle dune della foresta, dove entra nella sabbia, facendo una specie di millefogli o di lasagne sabbia/plastica. Puliscono vagamente due volte all’anno. Un giorno di festa della guardia forestale, ho chiesto a un magnifico cavaliere della guardia in uniforme perché non pulivano regolarmente. Risposta dell’ idiota: “perché il mare ne riporta sempre”. Le ho chiesto se lui si lavava ogni giorno, perché mi sembrava inutile visto che si sporca ogni giorno. Non ho avuto risposta!
Forecast provides that in 2050, there will be more plastic than fishes
Comments
Nikia Lyster
With thanks! Valuable information!