RIVERSEA
Terrestrial sources of marine litter and microplastics. Assessment and modeling of transport through rivers and estuaries and implementation of prevention and source reduction strategies
Climate change is the major environmental problem that humanity will have to face over the next decade; however, it is not the only one, because we will also have water scarcity, loss of biodiversity and waste management.
Waste is the topic we will address, because knowledge is power and the best way to change habits and mentalities is to reinforce the idea that plastics are not biodegradable, hence it is “obligatory” to comply with the 3 R rule (REDUCE plastic in our lives, RECYCLE and REUSE).
Tucab, as a manufacturer of plastic products, knows that plastic products should not be demonized, because many of the characteristics of this raw material make it a very important and indispensable material in our lives. Even though we do not produce single-use products, which are responsible for 49% of marine pollution, we are aware that as plastic is not biodegradable, it will always have a negative effect, some more than others, on the environment, the oceans and even on our own health.
Currently the world produces more plastic objects than ever, specifically 500 million tons according to Greenpeace. Many of these objects are single-use plastic, such as bottles, bags, plates, etc. Such waste, when discarded, can end up in a landfill or, eventually, be recycled. The problem is that the data on recycling, as indicated by this NGO, are not very encouraging: of all the plastic produced worldwide to date, only 9% has been recycled, compared to 12% that was incinerated and 79% that ended up in landfills or directly in the environment.
Faced with this worrying scenario and while no solutions are found to ensure that plastics are biodegradable products, we will all have to work together, manufacturers, consumers, collectors and recyclers, to promote and apply the aforementioned rule of the 3 R's (REDUCE, RECYCLE and REUSE).
Tucab, aware that it is on the side of the problem, has been taking very important steps for some time towards also being part of the solution. In this sense, we alert consumers to the practice of the 3 R's, we certified the company according to ISO 14001 – Environmental Management System, we consume more recycled plastic than the waste we create and even this is recycled and reintroduced into the process, we pay our customers for returned reels and we take internal measures to ensure that no plastic debris, no matter how small, leaves our company uncontrolled.
This concern of ours is so real that Tucab was recently invited to join a working group created by the RIVER-SEA Project whose acceptance was immediate. The RIVER-SEA project is dedicated to identifying microplastics in the Lis River and Mondego River basins, in a 1st phase, so that in a future assessment with stakeholders, strategies can be defined to reduce the release of microplastics in these and other river basins.
These are initiatives of this type, which lead us to delve deeper into how we can prevent microplastics from reaching rivers and then the sea. Participating in this project was so important for us that even before presenting the conclusions of the FMEA drawn up on this topic, we had already implemented some ideas that had, however, emerged.
Don't forget the 3Rs (reduce or even eliminate the consumption of single-use plastics, recycle, separating waste correctly so that there is better recycling and reuse, opt for products that contain recycled plastics in their composition.