Malta: Plastic Cleanup
From a hotel on the island nation of Malta, I am writing a few thoughts. You might ask how is this place related to plastics pollution? First because in this place the European Union hosted just a few days ago the conference Our Oceans 2017. For two days, participants shared with government, business and social leaders our combined understanding of the many problems affecting our oceans and possible solutions. But, for me, Malta will always be remembered because of a personal experience with someone for whom the problem of plastic pollution is very personal.
The Indian activist Afroz Shah ( @afrozsha1), is known known for spearheading the world’s biggest beach clean-up on Versova Beach in Mumbai, and this morning he invited me collect plastic with him at the beach in Malta’s beautiful district of Saint Julian. For a minute I asked myself, why should I collect plastics dumped by the Maltese? Answer: because otherwise it will end up in our oceans. So, with bags and gloves from the hotel, we went walking down to the oceanfront.
On the way, I asked Afroz what made him decide to clean Versova beach in Mumbai. He told me about the strong and beautiful memories he had from his childhood, how he loved to go to that beach, and how painful it was for him to see it transformed into a dump. Plastics and debris had accumulated over the years, brought in by the tides and by people throwing trash directly on the beach. He told me that people had lost their sense of belonging and stopped caring. He still cared and needed to do something. He saw a path forward when others chose not to see.
Our walk in Malta took us to a marina surrounded by restaurants and a walkway with boat ramps. Large amounts of plastics were accumulating there. It was obvious that the municipality did clean the place often and that this was perhaps just one days’ worth of plastic debris. There was a lot of it! In one hour, we collected 100 pounds of plastics in three large bags. The experience was surreal. There we were, obviously not locals—an Indian and a Latina—cleaning up while locals walked past. Not one person stopped to ask us what we were doing. Not even one!
Later, Afroz and I walked around town where most tourist attractions are, and it was striking to see plastic cups, straws, bottles and caps everywhere in the streets and on the sidewalks. Much of that plastic will end up in the sewer system or in the ocean, I thought. After spending the morning picking up plastics, that outcome seemed much more real. Soon there will more plastic in the oceans than fish!
The negative consequences of producing trillions of plastic objects in the last decades are startling. When oil-based plastics are discarded, bacteria can’t break them down. They end up in landfills and accumulate. Also, plastics are thrown in open land, rivers, lagoons, and oceans. Single-use-plastics, objects that we use once and discard, are particularly problematic because they are produced in gigantic quantities and are often small and light enough to float, and be transported by wind and water.
Plastics have become a problem of global proportion. As of 2010, 3.5 million tons of solid waste was generated per day and that number will rise to 6 million tons by 2025; 10% of that waste is plastic. Less than 10% of plastics are recycled.
Plastics linger for years polluting, collecting other pollutants on their surface and shedding microscopic particles that are now found in water systems and the food chain. So, when we consume fish or other animal products, we could also be consuming these pollutants and the plastic itself.
Letter from Malta: Let’s Stop the River of Plastics Flowing into the Ocean
Author: Valeria Merino, Vice President Global Earth Day