Microplastics are choking Spanish beaches. Not all national territories have a coastal area free from this type of pollution. However, there are some blackheads where the accumulation of these particles becomes a much more serious problem.
Microplastics are one of the most common factors of marine pollution in the world. These tiny particles enter the oceans, agricultural soils, and even the air we breathe in many different ways (chunks or lumps, fibers and polystyrene foam or nanoparticles).
La Pineda in Tarragona is one of the most polluted coastlines in Europe and its coast will be the hardest hit in the entire continent.. thousands every day pelletsThey are small, lens-shaped micro pearls smaller than 5 millimeters in diameter and in different colors.
Plastic pellets (bulk raw material for making objects from this material) are the second most important source of microplastic contamination Around the world, as confirmed by Pew Environment’s Breaking the Plastic wave research, which estimates the amount of pellets left at sea at 10,000 million each year.
According to the report published by On behalf of the Surfrider Foundation Europe, Rethink Plastic alliance, Pineda’s is one of the last five cases of industrial pollution caused by plastic pellets in different European countries. The other four were a spill in northern France, an accident in the North Sea (affecting Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and ongoing contamination of pellet production and processing plants in Antwerp (Belgium) and Rotterdam (Netherlands).
Tarragona and Barcelona focus on 70% of the plastics manufacturing industry in Spain. According to data from the Tarragona Chemicals Collaboration, 19.3 metric tons of plastic were produced in Tarragona in 2017.
“Contamination with pellets in the region is recurrent and persistent. In February 2019, it was estimated that there could be up to 90 million of these microplastics on the beach of La Pineda., they underline in the study. But it’s not the only beach affected in the area. According to Good Karma Projects, there was a leak in late 2018 that produced between 30 and 90 million pellets per square meter at the same spot. Later, in July 2019, the remains of this seep were found at Miracle beach Playa Larga and l’Arrabassada in the same state.
In general, the Mediterranean Sea is one of the regions most prone to these small traces of plastic, as it is a semi-enclosed sea. And these discharges produced on the Catalan coast are expanding throughout the region.
they arrive at the islands
For example, in the Balearic Islands, large accumulations of these microplastics have been found on north-facing beaches such as Sóller on Mallorca or Cavalleria and Cala Pilar on Menorca. This is because the prevailing wind is mistral, blowing from land to sea, facilitating the connection between Tarragona and the islands.
And as an archipelago completely surrounded by the sea, The Canary Islands are also affected by this type of pollution.. On the Islands, currently, scientists have found only four beaches that can be considered black destinations for large microplastics on the Islands. They all face north or northeast, indicating that vulnerability is directly linked to wind direction and strength of waves.
This list includes Famara (Lanzarote), Ámbar Beach (La Graciosa), Playa Grande (Tenerife) and Arenas Blancas (El Hierro). In them, the researchers observed that the patterns of microplastic contamination were very similar to those on other Macaronesia islands.
This means that the same microplastics always end up on these beaches: chunks (sharp-edged pieces) and lumps that heavily impact Mediterranean coasts. The distribution of microplastics is also uneven in the seafloor sediments surrounding the Islands. For example, at La Palma, the concentration of microplastics is higher on the west side, although most discharges are located on the east side of the island.
Washing machines throw microplastics into the sea
The sources of microplastics in the oceans are many and varied. The main sources of marine litter in the marine environment are those from the sea. terrestrial origin, which makes up 80% of the totalwith hot spots in industrialized areas or areas with higher population density, as well as in areas close to waste treatment plants.
This is how ecologists in Action sum it up in their work Origins of marine litter, plastic and microplastics, the effects and consequences of a global threat. here also highlights that these tiny traces of pollutants reach the beaches from sewage systems or rivers carried by wind or storms. This is not surprising, according to calculations by the Human and Territory Association (HyT). 75% of streams and rivers Those from mainland Spain contain microplastics.
The remaining 20% is represented by inputs from the oceans themselves. The human activity that contributes most to this is fishing, and particularly ghost hunting: abandonment or loss of gear (nets, ropes, buoys, etc.) drifting in the oceans, accidentally catching large numbers of organisms and damaging benthic habitats.
In the Canary Islands, for example, it is estimated that more than 80% of the microplastics deposited on the seafloor come from wastewater, particularly wastewater. small fibers that washing machines gradually shred clothes.
Currently, there are no effective systems in wastewater treatment plants that allow these plastic particles to be filtered from washing machines and sent to the sea.
The versatility and resistance of plastic makes it ideal for the manufacture of all kinds of everyday objects and materials. As a result, we produce, use and dispose of large quantities of plastic day in and day out. It is estimated that 10% of the total waste of this material we produce ends up in the oceans.
A problem invading the human body
Although beaches have supported the fight against plastic for decades, in recent years scientists have realized that these pollutants are far from being a unique problem in the ocean. Microplastics are found in snowy soils and can shrink enough to survive in cities. In this way, just by breathing, these particles are already present in the stool, blood, lungs and even the placentas of the population.
They also sneak into the body of small animals and have a degenerative power. Some research on fish shows that the presence of microplastics is associated with growth problems and oxidative stress.
However, the potential risks of microplastics to human health are still unknown. For the same reason, there is no national or European legislation regulating the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics as contaminants in food.
Source: Informacion
