Spain

I'm just back from 2 weeks holiday on the Costa Daurada in Spain. We stayed in one of the more relatively unspoilt bits of that coast, in a small village - or better said, a small settlement on the coast, connected to an older, traditional village a few kilometres inland. The coast there is lovely, like much of the Mediterranean coast. In particular, the gold-coloured glittery flakes that illuminate the water and give that region of the coast its name are delightful. The water was warm and, on still days, crystal clear, making it ideal for swimming and snorkelling. Like much of the Med, there's not much sea life to be seen, but occasional shoals of fish reward the patient snorkeller. What bugged me most however, was the amount of plastic waste in the water and on the beaches and sea shore. On days when the waves are up, the shallow coastal water gets stirred up and bits of plastic float in the water amongst the broken off bits of sea grass. When snorkelling, all sorts of plastic waste can be observed lying on the sea bed - old tarps, polypropylene rope bits, kids toys, plastic bags, food packaging, etc, etc. The more touristy beaches suffer from discarded drink containers and food wrappers, while the more remote beach and coastal areas are littered with all sorts of decaying plastic remains. I know I'm not the first person to be alerted to this problem, but our treatment of our oceans, seas and coastal areas has got to change. Plastic of this sort has been around for less that 100 years - the bulk of it has been produced in the last 50 or so years, and yet our marine environments are already suffering seriously from our incapacity to act responsibly in the way we deal with plastic waste. I shall be looking into ways in which I can help and will post further when I know more.