Police Collect Rubbish from Sea

The Maritime Unit of the Local Police in Torrevieja have been collecting rubbish from the sea, so far collecting half a ton of waste.

Environmental councillor, Fanny Serrano, explained that “90% of the waste that exists in the Mediterranean Sea is plastic, especially microplastics, and in summer it increases by 40%, therefore, any initiative that is carried out to help alleviate the effects that this causes, is welcome.

Serrano also introduced Aldolfo Rodríguez and Jerónimo Manzanaro, two of the members of the Maritime Unit, who have voluntarily carried out the work

The head of the Unit, Adolfo Rodríguez, detailed the waste that had been collected up until August 5 in this summer campaign in his area of ​​work, which goes from the beach of La Mata to Punta Prima, and which represents a total of 785 units.

Among them are 375 plastic bags of various sizes; 228 bottles, cans and plastic cups; 7 drums; 4 pieces of network; 26 pieces of rope and pipes; 81 pieces of greenhouse plastics and large pieces of plastic; 64 samples of polystyrene, other containers, wrappings and non-biodegradable plastic elements; 20 cleaning cloths; and 28 objects of another type, all of which are of human origin and could have been properly disposed of.

The members of this patrol, formed by Rodríguez and Manzanaro, began this work last year because they patrolled the beach area and saw plastic in the sea and considered that it had to be collected. “We saw a foreign family that were collecting rubbish and we thought that we could do that,” said Rodriguez, who commented that last year they saw plastics “entangled with the propellers of the boats.” This year the initiative has been joined by another patrol formed by Rubén León and Antonio Alarcón and they have extended the collection to another type of waste that people throw into the sea.

The Maritime Unit is responsible, among other issues, for dealing with episodes of pollution, control of discharges or recovery of marine fauna, “Last year we rescued a wounded gull hooked with plastics,” said the police, to which the councillor added that “the damage that is being done to the marine fauna is enormous, 80% of what the turtles eat is plastic, and also the fish eat it and that comes to us through its consumption. It is essential not to throw plastic in the sea and, in addition, if you are in the sea and see something floating, please pick it up because a tiny effort of each one of us can make a huge result”, concluded Serrano.

Rodriguez has stressed the need to create this environmental awareness and has recommended that everyone who goes out to sail, should carry a bag to put inside the waste that should be discarded when they reach port in its corresponding container.