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Human activities are now a risk to any of the planet’s beaches. In poorer countries, insufficient recycling and waste management have led to massive plastic contamination of beaches.
Despite the fact that India has 5,420 km of continental coastline and 43% of virgin beaches, the information on the accumulation of garbage, especially plastic, one of the most widespread and persistent pollutants in the maritime environmentis limited.
It is noted that plastic is the most prominent type of litter found on most beaches. Food wrappers, glass containers and fishing nets were also among the trash discovered on the beaches. Isolated beaches like Uttan and Gorai were cleaner, with much less plastic and glass waste, but abandoned fishing nets remain a major concern, as shown in the table below.
Types of plastic waste found
Thermocol, often known as expanded polystyrene or EPS, is one of the types of plastic found on the coast and beaches of Mumbai. Styrofoam makes up about 16% of the plastic waste recovered from three Mumbai beaches: Juhu, Mahim and Ambojwadi in Malad, according to Helen White, an oceanographer at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, United States. PVC, which is polyvinyl chloride, accounted for 40% of the waste, which is commonly used to make drainage pipes, medical devices, and electrical wiring, among other things.
PET, which is commonly used in food and beverage packaging, accounted for 17% of the total. Polyvinyl acetate, which is PVA, accounted for 1%, acetal 1% and silicon 1%, all of which have a huge range of applications as industrial materials and in the production of consumer electronics, were also discovered. in minimal quantities.
Effects of the dumping of plastics
Plastic waste is denying fishing groups residing near Mumbai’s shores, as well as the Arabian Sea, the establishment of fishing grounds and livelihoods. “Sometimes at high tide during the monsoon months, there’s so much plastic floating in the water that you can’t go swimming or surfing,” says Bamaniya, a resident and surfer. “When we take the fish out, we end up with several kilos of plastic waste in the nets,” she said.
It is estimated that the ratio between plastic and fish is 1:17, according to Martin Xavier, who works in CIFE’s Division for the Use of Fishery Resources and Post-harvest Management and was one of the scientists who participated in the 25 trawls. “For every 17 kilograms of fish caught by a trawler off the coast of Mumbai, a similar kilogram of plastic is also accidentally caught,” he said.
The presence of plastics is a danger to health and the environment. “As plastics remain in the environment, they become a source of microplastics, which eventually enter the food chain and potentially bioaccumulate in humans,” Xavier explained.
He oversaw research in 2019 that found 80 microplastic particles per 100 grams of fish, clams, oysters and shrimp caught in Mumbai. Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5mm in length that find their way into the environment through litter and landfill from various consumer and industrial items. Wind, abrasion, and ultraviolet light cause large pieces of plastic to break down into smaller pieces over time. These can be eaten by marine animals and then move up the food chain when people eat fish.
Solution
We are the ones who dirty, so it is our duty to clean. The BBC’s new Planet Blue series, hosted by David Attenborough, put the issue in the limelight to raise awareness in the media. Attenborough pointed to the 8 million tons of plastic that enter the oceans each year. The fate of humanity, and indeed the future of all life on Earth, is in our hands.”
According to Shah, India has a strong system of regulations to deal with plastic pollution, such as the Center’s Solid Waste Management Standards and Plastic Waste Management Standards. The Center has proposed a program called Extended Producer Responsibility (RAP) in 2020, which would force producers to recycle an amount of plastic equal to what they produce.
Although these regulations describe the methods of collecting, sorting and recycling plastic, they only solve the problem of plastic once it has become waste. Instead, the researchers recommend a “circular plastic economy,” in which these materials are not allowed to become toxins in the environment.
An innovative solution adopted by the Barcelona government came up with a creative solution: that fishermen take the lead in the fight against marine litter. The fishermen were sponsored with 1 million euros from the European Union and the Catalan government. “With the money, they have been able to improve what they need to get on board the boxes, all the necessary facilities to deal with the situation and we are hopeful that it will be replicated in other areas of the Mediterranean,” Director General of Fisheries of Catalonia, Tudela. With the great army of fishermen and coastal residents of India, great results could be achieved.
Artistic recycling is an important solution for cleaning beaches, as well as for raising awareness. “My aspiration with this artwork, created from hard-to-recycle plastic, was to portray them with the very waste that bothers them,” says Manveer Singh. “It is a project to show ordinary citizens the amount of garbage that reaches the beaches,” says artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, who created “Washed Ashore,” as seen in the image to the right, based on the plastic garbage collected on the beaches of southern Oregon.
Therefore, to save our beaches and our planet, we must eliminate plastic to achieve a better future in which there are more fish than plastic in the sea.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of India and Defense Research and Studies
Title image courtesy: Many of Many
References:
6) Pathak G. (2018). «Plastic Pollution» and Plastics as pollution in Mumbai, India. (2018). Ethnos.
Article republished within the framework of an agreement with Dras (Defense Research and studies) to share content. Link to original article:https://dras.in/beaches-metaphor-for-plastic-bins/
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