GREEN VI
P L AST I C I S E V E RY W H E R E . . . . . . and plastic never goes away. When a plastic shovel gets left on the beach or a plastic water bottle goes astray, it breaks down over time into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. Leave only your footprints. Photo: Susan McDavit.
BY J OA N N E P E N N E Y
THESE MICROPLASTICS are now found in every nook, cranny and body of water on earth. Scientists have seen microplastics everywhere they’ve looked: in deep oceans; in Arctic snow and Antarctic ice; in shellfish, table salt, drinking water and beer; and drifting in the air or falling with rain over mountains, cities and islands. They come from the convenient plastic products that are such a big part of our lives. Current estimates suggest we ingest five grams of microplastics per week—the equivalent of the weight of a credit card. Fragile island states such as the BVI are feeling the effects of microplastics and other plastic pollution. Researchers recently found a tiny Hawksbill turtle hatchling that had ingested 42 pieces of plastic. In April, BVI’s Association of Reef Keepers (http://www.bviark.org/) and Beyond
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the Reef (http://1beyondthereef. com/) rescued turtles and a whale from ensnarement in plastic debris. Sadly, clean ups on beaches yield large amounts of plastic and plastic litter among the mangroves is common. The world has a plastic pollution crisis, and the beautiful BVI is in no way excluded. Since 1950, humans have produced more than eight billion tons of plastic and continue to make plastic at a rate of nearly 400 million tons annually. More than half goes straight to landfills, only about 10% is recycled and up to 13 million tons enter the ocean—every year.
bottles, cell phones, toys, and food containers, which represent the vast array of plastic in our lives. Plastic is versatile, cheap, convenient and, tragically, it’s everywhere.
What’s in a gyre?
Begun in 2017, WE RECYCLE collects plastic, glass and aluminum cans and processes these materials with the aim of using as much as possible on-island. The programme now has 46 community collection bins sited across the Territory, and oversees the
The Great Pacific Gyre is three times the size of France. These dense, swirling masses of plastics, now floating in five oceans and the Caribbean Sea, are an accumulation of things such as toothbrushes, plastic
What’s the BVI Doing? Green VI, local environmental nonprofit, works in partnership with the BVI Government and in collaboration with the community to help lessen the threat of plastic pollution through the WE RECYCLE programme, Green Certification and the BVI Solid Waste Strategy.
WE RECYCLE
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