Marine life and plastic pollution:
The facts are alarming: half of plastic products end up in the bin in less than a year. Every year, marine litter results in 641 million euro expense for the tourism, maritime, and fishing sector.
The record holder: the Mediterranean Sea
Every year, companies around the Mediterranean Sea produce 38 million tonnes of plastic items for sale, but do not cover the costs of excessive waste production. Furthermore, the production of new plastic is cheap, so they don’t make an effort to use recycled plastic or other, alternative materials. Governments and local authorities are still not handling properly 28% of their own waste. Uncollected waste will end up in illegal landfills, or simply in nature, making its way into rivers and ultimately the sea. In this area 2.9 million tonnes of waste is annually discarded in uncontrolled locations, especially in Egypt and Turkey. There are 170 landfills in Morocco too, that are still in operation illegally. Alongside manufacturers, governments, and authorities, tourists can also make a difference: they produce more than 24 million tonnes of plastic waste per year in the Mediterranean region. Every summer waste in coastal towns increases by 30%.
Plastic, the greatest challenge of our era
Whether you look at the 150 million tonnes of plastic floating in the seas of the Earth, or the record-breaking levels of microplastic pollution in the Mediterranean Sea or the pollution of our domestic rivers, the point is clear: plastic is one of the most serious environmental challanges of today. The solution will require all of us: innovative alternatives are needed for its substitution, we have to reduce the amount of plastic with stricter regulations, we have to prevent plastics from ending up in nature with appropriate waste management, and we also have to increase recycling rates. Companies, governments, and consumers have all major roles in this process.
We eat plastic
A joint study conducted by WWF, the University of Newcastle (Australia), Dalberg Global Development Advisors looked at how much of the plastics from our environment ends up in our bodies. The figures are alarming: we consume on average 2000 small pieces of plastic every week with our food and drinks. This amounts to around 21 grams of plastic per month and more than 250 grams per year.
According to the report, the main source of microplastics is drinking water, that includes bottled water as well. However, pollution levels vary by region: the United States and India, for example, have twice as much plastic in their waters than Europe and Indonesia. We also learned that marine invertebrates such as shellfish and crabs, beer, and salt contain the biggest amount of microplastics. Plastic pollution also has economic costs, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates it to be around $8 billion a year.
Microplastics in our domestic waters
Two measurements were conducted in the Danube, where 50 plastic particles per cubic metre was recorded – the highest concentration ever reported in Hungary – with the rate being higher downstream from Budapest. In the Danube the samples showed the highest concentrations of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene, all of which are widely used for consumer goods and packaging.
In the Tisza, the number of plastic particles larger than 300 micrometres per cubic metre was 4.9, while 23.1 particles were found in the sample from Lake Tisza. In the Ipoly river one cubic metre contained 1.7 particles. This river’s relatively low level of micropollutants is most likely attributable to the fact that it meanders through national park areas, that are relatively far from industrial and municipal effects. The Rába river has a higher, 12.1 microplastic particles per cubic metre rate which could mean up to 20.7 million particles per day flowing down the river.
