Where does your trash go?
Plastic : one of the most common litters found on beaches New Delhi, July 28th : Litter is one of the most pervasive and fastest-growing anthropogenic alterations of the World. Coastal litter degrades the quality and health of the oceans by damaging coastal and marine habitats and harming marine life. According to WorldAtlas.com, plastic is one of the most common litter found on beaches. International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) reported to have commonly found Cigarette Butts (CBs), food wrappers, plastic bottles and bottle caps, plastic bags, plastic beverage lids, straw and stirrers, and plastic and foam take-out containers in all coastlines sampled in 2017. During the 2020 global campaign to clean beaches, volunteers working in 122 countries collected 8,066,072 litter items, of which 964,521 (11%) were CBs. We all know that plastic litter is hazardous to marine life. Minuscule pieces of plastics or microplastics have been found in many sea life, including fish and drinking water, creating a poisonous food chain that eventually affects humans. It is said that earth has one big ocean with many features. An interconnected circulation system around the oceans is driven by the force of the earth’s rotation, wind, the sun, etc. The ‘global ocean conveyor belt’ carries litter from one sea to the other. Therefore, it is imperative to clean the entire coastline of all the countries to get the benefits of the cleaning activities. Non-buoyant or non-persistent litter items, such as metal, glass, paper, textile, organic litter etc., come mostly through direct litter dumping. Oil Spill Prevention, Administration and Response (OSPAR) was started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping. It was later expanded by the Paris Convention of 1974 to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry. It says litter composition indicates specific uses and activities such as tourist activities, fishing, and dumping. Experts define marine litter as “all anthropogenic, manufactured, or processed solid items discarded, disposed of, or abandoned in the marine environment, including all such material brought indirectly to the ocean by rivers, sewage discharge, waves, tides, currents, and winds.” Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14) talks about…
