Between 8 and 12 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year — the equivalent of a garbage truck dumping plastic waste into the sea every minute. Once discarded, plastic gradually breaks down over the years into tiny fragments known as microplastics.
About twenty people are scattered along Milady Beach in Biarritz. At first glance, it seems fairly clean — but only at first glance. Selim, Manon, Marie-Christine, and Bruce quickly make numerous discoveries.
« Overall, it’s almost all polystyrene, with a few plastic bags here and there. »
« There are lots of tiny pieces of plastic that look like shells. It’s worrying because they can end up in a bird’s food or enter the ecosystem quite easily. »
Then comes the sorting. The collected waste is cataloged, mostly microplastics broken down by the effects of sun, sand, and wind.
The data were collected by the Surfrider Foundation — valuable information to challenge policymakers and industry, and to help evolve French and European legislation. Christina Barreau, Environmental Program Coordinator for Surfrider Foundation Europe, explains:
« These data allow us to build our advocacy. What is the state of European beaches? What types of objects are polluting them? How did they get there? Some beaches, for example, are heavily polluted by items related to maritime activities, like fishing gear, while others face pollution from more continental sources. I’ll give you two examples: we find a huge amount of single-use plastic waste. This led us to question which laws are currently missing to prevent waste at the source and reduce it. In France, we’ve made significant progress with the Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy, and at the European level, with the adoption of the so-called ‘Single-Use Plastics Directive’. »
Source: radiofrance
