ECOPLATA and Coca Cola, organized a special day for the care of the environment, cleaning up the beaches with the help of volunteers. This event has been held every year since 1986 by Ocean Conservancy. The idea is to raise people's awareness of the role each of us play in keeping the world's beautiful beaches clean and to recognize the damage our pollution causes to our direct environment.
Hundreds of volunteers cleaned the beaches of Montevideo, Maldonado and Canelones under the International Day Clean Beaches in Uruguay which was a great success as this was the first time it took place in Uruguay. On the beach at Carrasco (Rambla and Arocena), on the beach Parada 1 Mansa in Punta del Este and the beach in El Pinar (stop 32), volunteers removed all the garbage they encountered on their way!!
What kind of garbage is found on the beaches?
Mainly drink lids, plastic drink bottles, cigarette butts, food packaging, plastic bags, pieces of styrofoam and scrap plastic, glass bottles, bottles of bleach and cleaning supplies, plastic packaging, tarps and batteries . The big problem is the plastic, as this is found in large quantities and it is well known that is takes 500 to 1000 years to degrade!
How these residues affect the species?
Industrial pollution: toxic waste such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, copper and tin), plastic and other solid waste, kill fish and plankton. So also animals like seals, dolphins, turtles and seabirds are affected by eating solid waste or get caught between them.
Debris in the sea: on the coasts and beaches things are often thrown or left by visitors and these bottles, plastic and packaging gathers in the sea, is deposited on our beaches, and pollutes the natural habitat of many animals. The natural prey of some species has been affected by pollution and so they have adapted by scavenging among garbageand this unnatural diet affects their health. This is very common among birds and sea lions as they are close to the coast and therefore close to humans.
Oil spills: This form of marine pollution is very serious and increasingly common. These spills can occur by corrosion of underwater pipelines, damage to the vessels that transport crude oil, or deteriorating facilities on land and that causes these accidents. However, it is also worth noting that the residues left by vehicles, gas stations, refineries and industries cause over 50% of oil spilled in to the ocean every year.
This produces an oily mass in water, known as the oil slick, which has an extremely harmful to the flora and fauna. For example, birds that are impregnated with oil die within a few days by freezing, because the oil on their feathers does not permit the thermal insulation or waterproofing of their bodies.
As such this clean-up and awareness project led by ECOPLATA and Coca Cola will get more people involved in keeping the beaches of Uruguay clean and naturally populated with a wide array of wildlife. For more information check out their website for details.
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