¿Tienes plástico? La contaminación marina y los peligros de los microplásticos - Por Len Port

Si bien no hay duda sobre la gran escala del problema de la contaminación plástica, no está nada claro cómo lugares como el Algarve, Portugal continental, van a hacer frente a la crisis.

La contaminación plástica marina, en particular el material microplástico, es una amenaza grave para la naturaleza y la salud humana, pero aún no se comprende por completo. Si empeora, amenazará cada vez más el bienestar económico de las comunidades de todo el mundo, como la nuestra, que dependen del turismo y la pesca.

La amenaza local y regional no debe sacarse de contexto porque es un problema global, pero mucha gente aquí parece no darse cuenta del hecho de que nuestra reputación de hermosas playas y excelentes mariscos está en juego.

La falta de conciencia puede deberse en parte al hecho de que gran parte de la contaminación plástica marina no se puede ver tal como existe en forma microscópica.

El vecino Mediterráneo con sus renombrados centros turísticos es uno de los mares más contaminados del mundo.

Un nuevo informe del Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza (WWF) dice que el plástico representa actualmente el 95 por ciento de los desechos que flotan en el Mediterráneo.

Los niveles récord de contaminación por microplásticos amenazan las especies marinas y la salud humana, según WWF.

Dice que la concentración de microplásticos es cuatro veces mayor en el Mediterráneo que la concentración más alta en el Océano Pacífico.

Gran parte del plástico en el Mediterráneo permanece atrapado allí para siempre, aunque una gran cantidad debe filtrarse a través del Estrecho de Gibraltar y a lo largo de la costa sur de Portugal para aumentar la contaminación a lo largo de las costas del Atlántico.

Gran parte de la contaminación plástica en el mar y en las playas del Mediterráneo comienza como material de desecho vertido en vertederos en Turquía, España, Italia, Egipto, Francia y el norte de África.

Los sectores económicos del turismo y la pesca se ven cada vez más afectados y contribuyen a la contaminación.

Las pesquerías europeas se enfrentan a unos 62 millones de euros de daños causados ​​por la caída de las capturas de pescado y los daños a los barcos.

Se han producido más de ocho mil millones de toneladas métricas de plástico desde que se introdujo el plástico en la década de 1950. La cantidad de plástico producido en un año es aproximadamente el mismo que el peso total de la humanidad. [Virtually every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some shape or form.

Only a small percentage of plastic waste is recycled. It is either dumped in landfills , incinerated or simply not collected .Since most plastic doesn’t biodegrade in any meaningful sense, all that plastic waste could exist for hundreds of years.

Wherever you look, the statistics on the source of plastic pollution are horrific.

One million plastic bottles are bought every minute around the world — and that number is expected to top half a trillion by 2021. Less than half of those bottles end up getting recycled.

Nearly two million single-use plastic bags are distributed worldwide every minute.

500 million plastic straws are used every day in America alone. That’s enough to circle the Earth three times.

About 580 billion cigarette butts are discarded annually in the European Union. Each butt takes about 10 years to disintegrate.

The WWF argues for stringent action including the introduction of an international treaty with binding reduction measures and agreements about trade in plastic waste and criteria for recycling.

The national measures should include a 100% recycling target plus a ban on plastic bags and single-use plastics.

Legislation should also be passed to ban microplastics in personal care products.

The problem all along the European shores has already been compounded over many years. At long last the European Commission has introduced the New Waste Package which came into law on 4th July 2018 for all 28 EU member countries. 

This contains substantially increased targets for collection and recycling of plastics which currently are polluting the world’s oceans.

On 28 May this year the EU Council and Parliament introduced the SUP (Single Use Plastics) Document which proposes that each member state conducts awareness-raising educational campaigns about the disposal of all waste products such as plastic cups, straws and picnic utensils.

In September the debate will begin and due to public pressure on plastic litter it is expected to become legislation during first half of next year.

In other words, a comprehensive EU effort is under way, although the exact timing is still unknown.

Most experts reckon that overcoming the global plastics crisis will need an international commitment on the scale of the Paris agreement on climate change.

Meanwhile, the best we can each do as individuals is to cut down on our own use of plastic and help clean up the waste of others.

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(*) Len Port is a journalist and author. Born in Northern Ireland, his first written pieces were published while he was working in the Natural History Museum, London. Since then he has worked as a news reporter, mainly in Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Portugal. In addition to reporting hard news for some of the world’s leading news organizations, he has produced countless feature articles on all sorts of subjects for a range of publications. Now living in southern Portugal, his books include travel guides and children’s stories. His ebooks – People in a PlaceApart and The Fátima Phenomenon – Divine Grace, Delusion or Pious Fraud? are available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. His blog posts can be viewed at algarvenewswatch.blogspot.com