Radio România Internațional

Tag: microplastics

  • Plastics Against Waters

    Plastics Against Waters

    Water
    infesting waste, mainly plastics, has become a very serious problem
    globally, including Romania. More and more environmental organization
    are trying to clean up waters with methods both user friendly and
    more on the edge, but also to raise awareness with the public at
    large and local authorities about the perils of this type of
    pollution. One of these organizations is called Act for Tomorrow,
    which runs the Acting for Waters project. According to most experts,
    plastics are 90% of human waste, including in marine systems.
    According to UN data, 1 million marine birds and 100,000 marine
    animals die each year from plastic pollution alone. We asked what the
    situation was in Romania. We found out that, even though Romania has
    little official data, most likely it is in line with the global
    trend. Andreea Petrut, with the Act for Tomorrow organization, gave
    us some details:

    In
    terms of waste polluting waters, Romania is short on statistical
    data. We don’t have official figures from the Ministry of the
    Environment, or other public institutions that could tell us how much
    macro-waste pollution there is in waters across the country. There
    are some European level statistics, some that say that the Black Sea
    is the second most polluted in Europe with man-made waste, others
    that it is the first. What I can tell you, statistically speaking,
    based on research we have run early this year, is that in all sweet
    waters in Romania, as well as in the Black Sea, there are
    microplastics. These are tiny plastic fragments, nanometric, which
    come from decaying plastics. These microplastic fragments are found
    in absolutely every body of sweet water in Romania. We should
    absolutely worry about them, because they are dangerous both for
    ecosystems and our own health.

    The
    above mentioned organization acts on several directions: prevention,
    awareness, collection, and recycling. Obviously, such a grave and
    complex problem cannot be solved by a single NGO, but their
    initiatives can be replicated by other organizations, as well as by
    the authorities. Also, raising awareness among the public about the
    dangers of plastic littering pollution is essential, and every effort
    to this end is paramount. In fact, Act for Tomorrow is just one of
    the organizations dealing with water conservation in Romania, and we
    have already mentioned some in previous installments. Andreea Petrut
    told us about the main coordinates of the Acting for Waters program:

    We
    act on four main directions in this project. The first is in the
    education and training for prevention, meaning the generation of
    plastic waste that ends up in waters. Then we have the intervention
    and cleaning element, then the community mobilization and advocacy,
    including research, then, last but not least, exploiting plastic and
    other kinds of waste we collect from waters, putting them back in the
    economic circuit, as part of the circular economy. Last year we
    brought to Romania the first infrastructure for collecting waste in
    the shape of giant marine animals, which had not been seen on
    Romanian beaches. This year we opted for eight animals we set up on
    the beach, which are meant to ring the alarm for tourists in terms of
    the waste they generate, which end up in the water. We have an
    original project we developed, the first sea faring ship in Romania
    for waste collection that is 100% electric, actually the first in
    Europe. It is a craft we developed from scratch in Romania, together
    with our partners. Last year we ran a campaign for information and
    education called ‘Faced with Water Waste’, which got awards for
    environmentalism and communication. Basically, we compared all
    endangered and protected species with their exposure to waste,
    comparing their life expectancy with the fact that waste is basically
    there to stay forever. Aquatic fauna has a life expectancy that is
    much, much lower. In Constanta we put up the largest mural painting
    in the world that actually purifies the air, in an attempt to raise
    awareness on our marine pollution. In addition to these campaigns, we
    are laying a lot of emphasis on cleaning up. We ran a lot of programs
    for cleaning up waters, either with our waste collection craft, or
    with boats and other small craft manned by volunteers.

    The
    results of the campaign were beyond expectations, say the organizers.
    In only 5 months, they collected almost 19 tons of waste, both from
    the sea shore and from the most polluted waterways and lakes in the
    country. All the selected waste was recycled to be turned into
    resources. In total, 400 volunteers took part in the events,
    dedicating their time and energy to cleaning up waste that piled up
    in waters and on the shores. Over a million people visualized online
    the campaign for raising awareness called Facing Water Waste, which
    we mentioned above. Local public institutions mobilized to offer
    support, and became partners in the activities. Numerous local NGOs
    took the message further to other communities, contributing to the
    mobilization of volunteers.

  • An environmental programme entitled “With Waters Clean”

    An environmental programme entitled “With Waters Clean”

    In order to fight pollution on the Danube and the Black Sea, the association has launched a programme entitled With Waters Clean, which is an appeal to involvement into education and environmentally-friendly activities for the inhabitants of towns and villages along the Danube. Millions of tons of waste, consisting mainly of plastic bottles and bags make their way to the world’s oceans and seas every year.



    According to the United Nations Organisation, plastic wastes are posing a great threat to the environment while the European Commission has pointed out that after the Mediterranean, the Black Sea has the largest quantity of marine litter in the EU and plastic accounts for 90% of this quantity. Doru Mitrana, chair of the MaiMultVerde Association, believes the quantity of litter could be even bigger than estimated due to the recent flash floods that could carry more litter into the rivers, into the Danube and eventually into the Black Sea.



    Doru Mitrana: According to the latest surveys, almost 4.2 tons of plastic are being carried by the Danube into the Black Sea every day, which means 1533 tons a year. We started from the figures provided by this survey, which was conducted by the University of Vienna, and from the images that we see everywhere with flash floods carrying litter into the rivers and we got a real picture of the situation which could be even worse and the quantity of litter bigger. That gave us the idea for this project, which is meant to be a partnership for our common good, a way of finding a solution to a situation, which is affecting us all. And when I speak about a partnership I am referring to citizens, companies and state authorities because a clean Danube actually means a clean Romania. We have all seen litter pouring in from everywhere, ending up right into the Danube and then in its delta. So it doesn’t matter that we dump plastic in Transylvania or in Moldova, it will eventually end up in the Danube by means of its tributaries.



    Initiators of the ‘With Waters Clean’ project are going to cooperate with the other riparian countries as well as with European and world institutions such as the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, United Nations Water and UN environment. In order to put an end to the destruction of the marine ecosystem, the European Union wants to completely end the plastic pollution of its seas by 2030, European officials have announced on the celebration of European Maritime Day in Romania.



    The measures include a ban on plastic wrap use as well as projects aimed at eliminating maritime litter, such as waste-collecting nets or drones able to identify litter-infested areas. The European Union also wants to encourage innovation in the maritime field through a research programme entitled Horizon 2020 meant to promote regional and international cooperation. Here is Doru Mitrana again.



    Doru Mitrana: This plastic has made it to the Danube Delta, to areas with a rich biodiversity where it turns into fish food. In this way sooner or later we are going to find it on our dinner table. Litter consists of plastic of big dimensions, which can be recovered, but the real threat is posed by microplastics, which could be found in waters and animal bodies and unfortunately we can no longer do anything in this respect. So it is important for us not to add fresh quantities of plastic to the ones already polluting waters. Other surveys show that unless we change things, it’s possible to have more plastic in waters than fish by 2050. These are worrisome statistics because waters are a food source and also a source of entertainment and other economic activities, which could lead to local and national development.



    The programme With Waters Clean comprises a series of clean-up actions carried out by volunteers and members of the Danube communities on the river banks jointly with County School Inspectorates. This stage will be followed by another one in autumn, focusing on the implementation of the solutions identified.



    Doru Mitrana: Our intention is to find solutions for Romania and that’s why we started with a clean-up camp in the Danube Delta in May this year when 100 volunteers collected roughly 5 tons of plastic waste from the Sacalin Island. The project is also carried out in 10 riparian cities on the Romanian side of the Danube where we work in partnership with other local NGOs and some from Bucharest. They help us build initiative groups made up of people interested in getting involved with this project and finding solutions to this crisis. Right on June 29th, on Danube Day, we want to kick off the first clean-up activities in these communities who are to work together and identify solutions to prevent plastic from reaching the waters. Among the solutions there are the selective collection of waste as well as recycling and collecting facilities in some entertainment areas on the Danube so that these recreation areas may be litter-free.



    The International Danube Day is celebrated every year on June 29th to mark the Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable use of the river Danube an event which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1994. This year, the motto proposed by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube, Get active for a Safer Danube! is promoting solidarity among the peoples sharing this common resource. Events dedicated to this day are unfolding in all the 14 riparian countries with a view to adopting joint measures and strategies for the protection of this river against diverse threats such as extreme phenomena like drought, flooding or accidental pollution.


    (translated by bill)