In the Mediterranean, microplastics will increase by 300% by 2050. And the mobilization begins

2023-06-22 16:16:42

Oceans, seas, rivers and lakes are likely to suffer the direct effects of climate change and the impact of anthropic activities on the water. Three major threats loom over the state of health of large expanses of water today: the microplasticslo spill of hydrocarbons and the fragility of marine habitats. According to what was reported by the portal of the European regional communication program Eu Neighbors South, circa 570 thousand tons of plastic end every year in Mediterranean Sea, the equivalent of the weight of more than 50 Eiffel Towers. A figure which, according to estimates, is destined to quadruple (+300%) by 2050.

Plastics are dangerous especially when they become almost invisible, because the fish confuse them for food and eat them: they risk dying and we risk finding particles of these materials on our plates, which are harmful to our bodies. A recent study conducted by theAdvanced Technologies Network Center dell’University of Palermo has even shown that in some stretches of the Mediterranean the amount of microplastics has grown by 80% between September 2019 and May 2022.

But the mobilization has already started. LifeGatethe Italian point of reference in the field of sustainability for over 20 years, launches the Water Defenders Alliance, an alliance made up of companies, universities, associations and research bodies, individual citizens, institutions and ports. Among the proposed solutions: the drone able to “hunt” for plastic waste that moves away from the accumulation points, the waste collection basket floating in surface waters, the professional dive missions for the recovery of abandoned debris on the seabed.

“The objective of the Water Defenders Alliance – he declared Aeneas RovedaCEO of LifeGate – is to be able to complete the challenges that we have identified in every single port and in every marine area, a point of contact between people and water, involved in the progetto PlasticLess. The future of the planet depends on two keywords such as sustainability and innovation but, as always, in addition to technologies, people make the difference. Everyone can and must do their part and the alliance was born to give every representative of civil society a key role for the sustainable change we want to see”.

Enea Roveda, CEO of LifeGate

Also on the subject of chemical pollution, LifeGate has chosen an innovative solution – patented by the Italian startup T1 – which allows the capture and storage of up to 100% of spilled hydrocarbons, equipping yachtsmen, fishing boats and ports with special tools.