In a statement to CNA Xenia Loizidou, a civil engineer and President of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Studies and Research AKTI Xenia Loizidou said that about 70 volunteers, mainly retired British citizens living in Pegeia and 22 divers from the Cydive diving centre participated in the clean-up campaign.
According to Mrs. Loizidou, within an hour they collected a ton of rubbish from the shore and the seabed of which 70% was plastic and the rest was building materials and pieces of wood.
Asked about this, Mrs. Loizidou said that it was not the first time they had organised a clean-up of the coast but it was the first time that the participation of volunteers and divers was high.[/B] She also described as important the fact of the increase of plastics collected from the sea which allegedly came from neighbouring countries. Also collected as part of the clean-up were a lot of styrofoam which, he said, is used a lot by fishermen.
He added that as part of Lidl's plastic zero programme, the AKTI Centre for Studies and Research is also carrying out microplastics detection with field measurements on various beaches in Cyprus. This, he added, is being done for the first time in Cyprus, they have the first results according to which there seems to be, as he said, a big problem with microplastics which cannot be seen with the "eye" . He also pointed out that on remote beaches there seems to be more than 7% microplastics. She also said that this effort will continue.
Loizidou concluded by noting that our seas have become "plastic soups, microplastics are everywhere, we breathe them, we swallow them, we live with them and we must be able to tackle the great danger of plastic pollution along with other forms of pollution.
Moreover, in a statement to CNA, Mayor of Pegeia Marinos Lambrou welcomed the effort that was an initiative of the Centre for Studies and Research AKTI and wished for less pollution of the seas and coasts.
Meanwhile, Anna Tselepou, one of the participants from the Centre for Studies and Research AKTI, said that Akamas and its sea is the first choice for the Centre for Studies and Research AKTI in the scientific field of its study on combating microplastics.
Source: CNA
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