Mediterranean being littered with plastic

Record levels of microplastics are floating in the Mediterranean Sea. This is shown by a current WWF report released on today’s World Oceans Day, which also incorporates Swiss data. The concentration of tiny plastic particles in the Mediterranean is nearly four times higher than that of the plastic patch in the North Pacific: up to 1.25 million fragments per square kilometre.

320 million tourists exacerbate the problem

95 percent of the waste found in the Mediterranean or on its beaches consists of plastic. The plastic pollution originates mainly from Turkey and Spain, followed by Italy, Egypt and France. The popularity of the Mediterranean as a holiday destination further worsens the waste problem. During the summer months, the 320 million tourists who holiday in the Mediterranean region each year increase the sea’s waste load by 40 percent.

«The Mediterranean is almost entirely surrounded by inhabited coastlines and risks becoming a plastic trap. Unsecured landfill sites near the sea, illegal waste disposal into rivers, and tourist activities are all sources through which plastic waste enters the Mediterranean,» says Heike Vesper, Head of Marine Conservation at WWF Germany.

«Europe produces enormous quantities of plastic waste and must improve its waste disposal and recycling infrastructure. We cannot allow the Mediterranean to drown in plastic.»

134 animal species affected by plastic waste

Plastic waste has already left clear marks on the nature and wildlife of the Mediterranean. 18 percent of tuna and swordfish have plastic in their stomachs, primarily cellophane and PET. In the Pelagos Whale Sanctuary in the north-western Mediterranean, microplastic levels are high, with over 56 percent of plankton severely contaminated with pollutants.

In the Mediterranean, 134 different animal species are affected by marine plastic waste, including 60 fish species, all three native sea turtle species, nine seabird species, and 5 marine mammal species. All sea turtle species living in the Mediterranean have ingested plastics. Up to 150 plastic fragments have been found in the stomachs of some animals.

Europe: Second largest plastic producer in the world

Europe is the second largest plastic producer in the world after China. In 2016, the 28 EU member states, together with Norway and Switzerland, produced 60 million tonnes of plastic and generated 27 million tonnes of plastic waste. Only 31 percent of this waste was recycled, 27 percent went to landfills, and the rest was incinerated. More on Environment and Nature Conservation.