Lesvos plastic free

LESVOS PLASTIC FREE
1. Who are we?
Lesvos plastic free is a group created by concerned lesvos citizens about the overwhelming plastic pollution and litter we see on our beaches ,in our seas and on our land.
2. What have we done within a year?
to date we have manage to remove 47.000 liters of plastic from our beaches and land through beach clean up events. we have cleaned 27 beaches and 2 parks , some of these beaches we have returned to 3-4 times and we will still return as they are problematic areas. from spring time we have visited 6 schools to raise awareness about plastic pollution and recycling . This is something we will continue to do for our island until we are single use plastic free.
3. What are we trying to do?
we are trying to create an awareness about the plastic crisis pollution and the littering that we witness every day through beach clean ups , interactive events and school or group visitations.
4. Why are we doing it?
Because of our ignorance concerning the over use of plastic we are killing the ocean and the natural enviroment .The sea creatures and land animals are our victims. plastic pollution is so overwhelming that if we dont do something about it, by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
according to the IUCN.ORG over 300 million tones of plastic are produced annually for a wide variety of things, more than half of it is single use plastic. About 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans annualy and makes up 80% of marine debris from surface waters to deep sea . Marine species ingest or are entangled by plastic debris which causes injuries and deaths. plastic pollution threatens food safty and quality,human health, coastal tourism and contributes to climate change. .. land animals are affected too in the same way. plastic eaten by animals can not be digested and so stays in the gut giving a feeling of fullness which reduces the feeling of hunger causing the animal to eat less and inturn they weaken and die . According to WWF-Greece , our country produces 700,000 tonnes of plastic and os which 11,500 ends up in our seas each year. and about 70% ends up back on our coasts.
when you hear such statiscs it makes you worry about your future , the future of the children ,the future of mankind! we can not just sit around and wait for some one else to solve this crisis , it is up to us to make a diffrence in our every day life choices and the time to act is now...
5. are there other groups or individuals on our island are making an effort with the plastic crisis?
I know there are many indidviduals who are trying to make a diffrence in their own way and we do have some bigger groups on the island that have been doing it for a longer period than us , some have been developed by universitiy students and some by social groups and individuals but the ones i know about who are really trying are the Marine remote sensing group from the university of the Aegean, The lesvos scuba club and the ECO cup which is also an initiative from the university.