The beaches of Puglia and Lucania are increasingly receptacles of waste, largely made up of plastic and disposable objects, and what is more serious is that most of these objects (from bottles to plastic containers and caps, from cigarette butts to rubble and fragments of glass, to disks, gloves and masks, packaging and nets) then end up in the sea, becoming a mortal danger for many animals and a source of pollution for the seabed.
The rubbish heap on Italian beaches, unfortunately, is growing in proportions every year: an average of 705 waste every 100 meters of linear beach and almost 80% is plastic with a trend from 2014 to today that does not seem to show signs of reduction important, representing on average around 50% of the waste found, according to the data collected by our volunteers.
On the beaches you can find everything and, unfortunately, two years after the entry into force of the European Sup (Single use plastics) directive which aims to reduce the use of disposable, non-biodegradable and non-compostable plastic, there is no still notices a reversal in the trend regarding the discovery of single-use plastic waste.
According to Legambiente’s «Beach Litter» report (which is based on an analysis of beached waste collected and cataloged by the environmentalist association), the first five places in the ranking of the types of waste collected are headed by cigarette butts, 3,338 of them collected (14.4% of the total), for an average of 101 butts on 100 meters of beach.
This was followed by 2,195 (9.4%) plastic objects and fragments measuring between 2.5 and 50 cm, and 1,566 (6.7%) caps and lids. In fourth place are construction materials with 5.5% and in fifth place are disposable plastic tableware (4.2%). The podium of the most widespread materials on the monitored beaches remains plastic with 79.7% of the objects found. This is followed by glass/ceramic with 6.6%, metal present at 4.5% and paper/cardboard with 2.9%.
This is one of the results of the 2024 monitoring carried out by Legambiente on 33 beaches in 12 regions of the Peninsula, for a total of 179 thousand square meters monitored and where 23,259 pieces of waste were collected and catalogued. In Puglia, the free beaches of Monopoli, on the Strada del Baraccone (Bari), of Torre Lapillo in Porto Cesareo in Salento and of San Pietro a Manduria in the Tarantino area came under observation. In Basilicata, however, the beaches of Macarro in Maratea in the Potentino area and that of Lido Policoro were raked.
Legambiente’s campaign for the monitoring and cleaning of waste abandoned on beaches and shores, «Spiagge e Fondali Puliti 2024» is dedicated to the topic from 10 to 12 May to raise people’s awareness of the problem of waste dispersion in the sea and along the coasts (marine litter) and on the correct disposal of waste. «Clean beaches? You staple us!” is the slogan of the 2024 edition.
«Beaches and seabeds are a common good held hostage by waste resulting from carelessness, superficiality and often also from malice. This year too, Legambiente will be engaged in a massive monitoring and collection campaign by mobilizing volunteers across the regional territory and launching a massive awareness-raising activity”, commented Daniela Salzedo, president of President Legambiente Puglia.
And also in the Heel of Italy, as in Basilicata, there will be a real public mobilization to free the coastal stretches from waste which remains a growing environmental problem, a concrete risk for marine and coastal fauna and also a deterrent for tourist value of the places.
«The activities that characterize the Spiagge e Fondali Puliti campaign offer everyone a concrete example of how even small gestures can generate a message that is as powerful as it is often ignored: nature is our home, we must take care of it», explained Giorgio Zampetti, director general of Legambiente.
«The data collected in our annual survey on the pollution of beaches and shores due to the abandonment of waste – concludes the national representative of the Green Swan association – confirm how collective cleaning campaigns are still necessary, given the trend of increasing waste dispersed in the environment linked to food consumption”.
