Join LIBERA, Europe’s largest and most diverse alliance against plastic litter in nature.
Approximately one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute worldwide, and up to five trillion plastic bags are used every year (UNEP, 2018). Some of this waste enters European seas, where an estimated 626 million ‘floating items’ (or 3,382 tonnes of waste) accumulate annually (González-Fernández et al., 2021).
Recently, the European Environment Agency published a report on marine litter, and highlighted the case study of the LIBERA project as an example of best practise, outlining the following key messages:
– Marine litter is defined as all human-made solid items that end up in the coastal or marine environment. The major cause is poor waste management and littering on land, although seaborne activities contribute to the problem.
– Land-based sources account for 80% of marine litter and approximately 85% of it is plastic. This is a problem because of plastic’s impact on marine life and human health via the food chain. The persistent nature of plastic means that it can last up to 500 years in some cases.
– Plastic packaging and small plastic items comprise nearly 80% of plastic waste and are prevalent on European beaches. Although the amount of waste continues to increase, current waste management capacity is limited. Most plastic items that are used and thrown away are either recycled, incinerated, or properly stored in waste facilities. However, a mismanaged part of that waste continues to pollute our seas.
– The waste that cannot be collected or properly managed eventually leaks into the environment and is carried by river to the sea. The outcome is that 75% of assessed marine areas are polluted.
– European plastic waste generation is growing at an even faster pace than economic growth. Continuous increasing waste generation is not in line with the EU’s goal of significantly preventing waste and reducing plastic waste.
– The EU zero pollution action plan, circular economy action plan (including its plastics strategy), Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Single-Use Plastic Directive all aim to curb the problem. Yet to achieve Europe’s green goals, we need a more holistic understanding of marine litter — from source to sea.
In Spain, in 2016, SEO BirdLife initiated the LIBERA Project with the support of Ecoembes, the consortium of packaging producers that is responsible for all the plastic bottles, packaging, tetra bricks and cans they sell to us. Since then, LIBERA has become the largest network focusing on the fight against garbage in nature, both on land and at sea. Apart from most of the authentic grassroots environmental organisations, LIBERA counts on 154,000 volunteers, focusing on 7,824 sites throughout Spain. Since 2016, over 2,200 ENGOs have retrieved over 673 tons of waste. LIBERA accounts for over 297 enterprises, 596 municipalities, 38 alliances, 66,000 school students and 1,651 teachers of 2,635 schools. With regards to research, 25 universities and research institutions collaborate under LIBERA. Since 2016 these have conducted 2,595 sampling stations, analysing 410 water samples, 834 sediment samples and 133 of micro plastics.
LIBERA has a small flotilla of boats that collaborate in the fight against litter at sea. Together with the Toftevaag of Alnitak, which has featured several times in the Islander, two other emblematic classic boats are also part of this fleet, the Else of ANSE, based in Cartagena, and the Mater, and old Basque tuna fishing boat of Pasaia.
As an individual sailor, port authority, sailing school, diving centre or charter enterprise, you can join the LIBERA flotilla and be part of this concerted effort to rid our seas of plastic. One person retrieving a piece of plastic litter from the sea or beach can seem insignificant, but if many people do it, we can make a change.
We all like to sail, swim and dive in clear and clean waters. Unfortunately, the oceans have become saturated with all sorts of waste products. Plastics are the most conspicuous of these to us, as they mess up pristine beaches and the waters we sail in. A few decades ago, we believed plastics would eventually disappear (around 400 years), but in recent years the most alarming ocean habitat alteration has become the presence of microplastics in the water column and in all associated life forms, including ourselves.
What can we do? – For citizens ashore, waste management is a civic duty, but the effects of just getting rid of trash in any inadequate way is not something they will suffer the consequences of directly. However, if you are living in limited space, like a small island or a yacht, inadequate waste management is something that affects your life directly. Separating waste is a logical action that leads us to reduce storage of waste on board and avoid bad smells and undesired stowaways like rats, insects, etc. Living in close quarters with our food and garbage also forces us to look more carefully at what we buy and what kind of packaging it comes in.
Refuse single use plastics and choose your packaging – We can make a choice about what packaging we want, and we can refuse products with excess plastic and polystyrene packaging. In theory, single use plastic is banned in Europe, but it is still everywhere you look.
Recycling and reusing – Only around 35% of plastics can be recycled at present. But that should not be an excuse for dumping all the waste together in the same container. Separating waste helps us visualize where we can improve our own consumption and waste management, and it also helps official waste management to improve their systems.
Use the yellow containers – Yellow containers are for all plastic bottles and packaging, as well as tetra bricks and cans. In some North European countries, the strategy is to promote the re-of some containers, bottles, and cans. Neither system is perfect, and in both cases only around 35% of the plastics are recycled. In Spain, we have a formula of ‘polluter, pays’, where packaging producers fund the system for the treatment of the plastics they put out.
Report inadequate facilities for waste reception from yachts – The yellow ‘plastic packaging’ containers and their management is funded by plastic packaging producers through Ecoembes. Most marinas and ports now have adequate waste management facilities, including these containers as well as blue containers for paper, and green containers for glass and general waste. If you find a lack of facilities in a marina, you can report it through www.proyectolibera.org
