🗺🦠 Sea of Plastic 🦠🗺

Updated: Mar 17, 2021

Cradle of civilizations and cultures, the Mediterranean is suffering from pollution caused by the most recent of them all: ours. An assessment carried out by researchers from several Spanish universities accounted for the accumulation of plastic waste in the Mediterranean basin and states that it is comparable to that found in the five ocean gyres, where real plastic islands are concentrated.

One of the most problematic places is the North Pacific Gyre. Oceanic gyrus is a term used by oceanographers to describe large rotating sea currents, which are directly related to the movement of the winds.

Only 1% of the Earth is covered with lakes, streams and rivers, but these environments are home to thousands of species of fish - making up a quarter of all fish in the world. They are also important ecosystems for the surrounding life, providing clean food and water.

Altogether, says the team of Andrés Cózar, from the University of Cádiz, there are between one thousand and three thousand tons of plastic waste floating in the Mediterranean Sea, which represents 7% more than had been calculated in previous estimates.

In an article published in the scientific magazine Plos One, Andrés Cózar's team explains that the residues found are of five different types - small grains, films, pieces of fishing nets, foams and fragments - and of varying dimensions, which walk between the two millimeters and more than one meter. Most are fragments of larger objects made of rigid plastic, such as bottles, lids (87.7%) and films (5.9%). A total of 83% of all this garbage is minimal pieces, which do not exceed five millimeters, the so-called microplastics.

The bottom of the ocean accumulates more and more garbage. While the largest outbreaks of garbage on the seabed can still be found, plastics have already been found. Discovered at the deepest point on Earth. In addition, in the next thirty years, the volume of garbage at sea may exceed three billion metric tons!

When does plastic become a problem?

Most of the products we consume or use daily are packaged in plastic, a material designed to last forever, yet used in products that we quickly pour outside. This disposable mentality is a recent global phenomenon, as there are still few generations packaged products in reusable packaging or using recyclable materials - glass, metal and paper.

What we can do to avoid marine litter:

🌍Recycle;

🌍Do not throw garbage such as tampons, cotton buds and sanitary towels through the toilet;

🌍We have to think that the sea is very important to us and that we can avoid more trash in it, and it needs to stay clean!

🌍Together we can save the planet !!