Zero marine litter

GOING to the beach this summer? Leave only your footprints in the sands.  Please don’t leave your cigarette butts, plastics and leftover food behind.

Keeping our beaches and shores free of trash is one way of reducing the volume of marine litter that is turning our seas into giant landfills.

To make this year’s summer vacation a pleasant experience for humans and for Mother Earth as well, why not aim for “zero marine litter” especially in coastal areas? Mind your trash. Do not to abandon your discards in beaches and other recreational sites.

Used plastic carry bags, for example, can be easily blown by wind into the sea where aquatic animals mistake them for food. Other discards from recreational activities can harm the coastal and marine environment in a big way. Wayward balloons, lost beach balls, abandoned swimming floaters, as well as misplaced lines, nets and other fishing gear can hurt and injure marine animals through entanglement.

To prevent and reduce marine litter that is threatening the health of our seas and oceans, the EcoWaste Coalition urges vacationers to avoid single use packaging materials and products that people simply throw away. Disposable plastic bags, plates, cups and cutlery, plastic straws, polystyrene containers and the like may be “convenient” to bring and use, but their arbitrary disposal is surely a threat to the environment, the group said.

In lieu of single-use items that people normally bring to the beach, go for reusable products which can be cleaned and reused countless times such as reusable bayong and cloth carry bags, reusable dinnerware and cutlery, washable cloth napkins, etc.

Marine litter, as defined by the United Nations Environment Programme, refers to “any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment.” Also known as marine debris, marine litter includes “items that have been made or used by people and deliberately discarded into the sea or rivers or on beaches; brought indirectly to the sea with rivers, sewage, storm water or winds; accidentally lost, including material lost at sea in bad weather (fishing gear, cargo); or deliberately left by people on beaches and shores.”

Aside from the ingestion, entanglement and habitat destruction issues, marine litter may contain toxic chemicals and may provide the means to transport harmful chemicals to distant places resulting to the contamination of the marine food chain.

By saving our seas, we save ourselves.

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