Joe Duggan (Reporter)
GREENPEACE vessel Rainbow Warrior docked in Mallorca with one activist revealing there are 1,455 tonnes of plastic on the Mediterranean’s surface.
The environmentalist group’s flagship dropped anchor in Palma , with its crew giving lessons on battling plastic pollution.
Campaigner Luis Francisco Ruiz-Orejon, who works at the Centre of Scientific Investigations (CISC) said one discarded plastic bag lasts ‘between 100 and 500 years’.
“[The 1,455 tonnes of plastic] is only the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
The eco-warriors campaign to clean up the seas is called Less Plastic, More Mediterranean .
Elvira Jimenez, head of Greenpeace’s campaign to clean up the sea, revealed that north of Mallorca and Eivissa there were areas with more than a million pieces of plastic per square kilometre.
“In only a few decades, plastics have had a huge impact on the environment,” said Jimenez.
“Marine fauna is being suffocated with these plastics. They even ingest them.”
The Rainbow Warrior 30-strong crew headed to Valencia after their Palma stop.
