Environment: Over 80% of litter on Italian beaches is plastic

According to some ENEA studies, over 80% of waste on Italian beaches is made of plastic, a serious threat to the environment and man’s health. Under the Agency’s magnifying glass also microplastic pollutants which, because of their size inferior to 5mm, are not retained by waste water treatment facilities. Microplastic fragments, produced from degradation of plastic, account for 46% of beach litter, containing at least 100 million cotton buds. Some areas presented up to 18 plastic items per square meter. These are some of the findings ENEA presented at the workshop “Marine litter: from environmental emergency to potential resource”, organized in collaboration with the Accademia dei Lincei and Forum Plinianum to take stock of the situation in terms of characterization and reuse of plastics, adaptation of legislation, sustainable management programs and local initiatives.

The workshop, attended by experts and researchers, representatives of the academic community, the institutional, entrepreneurial, journalistic world and the world of associations, was the occasion for talking about the impacts of plastic pollution on marine environment and man’s health, as well as for presenting the various opportunities offered by scientific research with the purpose of turning waste into a resource and promoting consumers’ awareness.

From polluting sources to new toxicological risks, ENEA took the occasion to present the outcomes of a monitoring activity conducted on plastics in lakes and seas, new perspectives in the reuse of beach litter and  innovative materials, and to give voice to awareness campaigns, legislative proposals and European projects on this theme.  

According to some studies, a single cycle of a washing machine could release 700.000 microplastic fibres into the sea, and 24 tons of microplastic are released into European seas and enter the food chain by daily use cosmetics.

Microplastic fibres have also been found in sea bass liver and in salt: a study conducted on swordfishes has revealed that the stomach of some specimens was filled with plastic particles.

According to Loris Pietrelli, ENEA researcher at the Department of Sustainability of Productive and Territorial Systems, “plastic marine litter is largely due to poor urban solid waste management, poor practices of urban waste sewage treatment and human behavior. The risk of transforming our seas in landfills is elevated.  By some estimates, by 2050 the volume of plastic debris in the sea will outweigh fish.

The studies conducted by ENEA for the characterization of beach and marine litter revealed that it’s mostly made of  thermoplastic polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene, materials recyclable into new marketable items, from waste to economic resource.

To this aim, qualitative and quantitative characterization of polymeric materials can be the starting point for a sustainable management of plastic materials: from recovery  to treatment to recycle. A virtuous recycling circle, a combination of strategies based on a “reduce-reuse-recycle” policy, capable of valorizing the potential of end-of-life materials, today largely undervalued.

“The majority of objects we use daily is made of polymeric materials, commonly referred to as plastic. Nevertheless, plastic pollution isn’t due exclusively to their extreme resistance but to the way their life-cycle is managed” Loris Pietrelli pointed out.  “It involves all phases of materials manufacturing, from the development of the items to the their use and disposal, including customs and traditions of our society. The fact that some items are used just for the time taken to drink a soda is no longer acceptable”, Pietrelli concluded.

According to the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) the economic impact of marine litter is estimated at 8 billion euro per year and the European expenditure for annual beach cleaning is approximately 412 million euro. Although the Mediterranean Sea hasn’t reached the levels of the Pacific Trash Vortex yet, (the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean), plastic is becoming an environmental issue of concern to be assessed, known and dealt with: a 2015 EU study estimates that the average density of plastic in the Mediterranean sea reaches  100thousand  items per square kilometer.

For more information:

Loris Pietrelli, ENEA – Department of Sustainability Of Productive and Territorial Systems - loris.pietrelli@enea.it