We enjoyed a visit of the Mediterranean Sea this summer. At the south west side of Mallorca the beaches are more directly connected to the open sea and therefore are more vulnerable for (plastic) pollution that flow in and out from the sea currents. At a first glance it looks like it’s coming from the sea and I think a part of the pollution we saw at the beach of Es Camp the Mar was more industrial like. In the afternoon, when the current is stronger, the pollution is so terrible that it is hard to swim and not hitting something nasty. At a second glance a big part of the pollution is coming from the people of the Island itself. Not only from the many, many tourists but also from the Island inhabitants itself. When we drove around the Island we saw a huge amount of litter next to the road and in the neighborhood of construction sites. So here is something seriously wrong with the mindset of the people, because they are spoiling there own future. So this requires significant changes in peoples behavior and has to start with information and education.

All this plastic in the sea water is turning into micro plastics and has become a part of our own food chain now. So what we produce on plastic waste we will eat again in our fish etc. Recent research suggests that even plankton itself is damaged by these micro plastics, and plankton is at the bottom of the food chain!

So what can we do ourselves? Even as an Island visitor and tourist you can be at serious help. So buy a little dip net from one of the many tourist shops and start dipping plastics. You will even get a nice tan doing it and do some ‘mind clearing’ hand work. So it’s seriously giving satisfaction and in a small scale you are a nice example saving the world a little bit. So we did…

See article below that you’re certainly not alone and that good work is an inspriring example for others!

A helping hand cleaning Mallorca’s beaches