Can, bottles, butts top list of marine trash

Beverage cans, plastic bottles and cigarette butts have been identified as the three worst offenders among the list of litter found on the beaches and marine debris in Abu Dhabi.

A recent campaign that cleared waste in the capital collected 200 bags of waste, of which were 2160 beverage cans.

Among the other waste collected as part of the Clean-Up Arabia Abu Dhabi event were 804 plastic bottles, 486 cigarettes, 359 plastic bags, 319 pieces of kitchenware, 235 glass bottles, 221 food wrappers, 160 pull tabs, 125 paper bags, and 71 ropes.

Although aluminum cans are highly recyclable, plastic remains a major threat and when dumped in to the sea can cause extensive damage to marine life.

Volunteer divers, who participated in the campaign organized by the Emirates Diving Association (EDA), with the support of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi found 840 kilograms of marine debris at the Mina Port near the Fishermen’s Wharf.

According to a recent report in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, a team of researchers who examined the occurrence of marine debris in the gastrointestinal tract of 54 loggerhead sea turtles found that marine debris was present in 35.2 per cent of turtles and included soft plastic, ropes, Styrofoam and monofilament lines found in 68.4 per cent, 42.1 per cent, 15.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent of loggerheads that have ingested debris, respectively.

The turtles were found stranded or incidentally captured dead by fisheries in the Adriatic Sea.

One recent statistics said that in the United States alone about 40 billion plastic bottles are produced each year, mostly for beverages and two-thirds of them end up in landfills.

Meanwhile the Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi has urged the public to assist in protecting the marine environment by always disposing of trash in designated locations, and clean up after outdoor excursions.