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"ALBATROSS"antiPLASTIC POLLUTION "ACTION" PROJECT 2012-2020 english copy

Before the eyes can see, they must be incapable of tears. Before the ear can hear, it must have lost its sensitivity. Before the voice can speak in the presence of mankind, it must have lost the power to wound. Before the soul can stand in the presence of heart all of creation, its feet must be washed in the blood of the!

Causes and reasons for the "ALBATROSS" Plastic Pollution Project (APPP)

Plastic waste in the oceans is an internationally known environmental problem. Plastic parts and their decomposition products accumulate in some particular flow vortices and lead to a significant compression in some ocean regions. The North Pacific Gyre has accumulated what is by now known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch". The phenomenon was first described in 1997. According to a new atlas of the oceans, merely four percent of the world's oceans are untouched by the consequences of human action.

Between California and Hawaii a huge carpet from plastic waste has evolved. Marine scientists report that the polluted area has reached the size of an area as huge as Central Europe. The estimated total weight of this garbage is three million tons. There are four more eddies known worldwide as "garbage collection". According to various scientists, the plastic waste comes from the coasts of Asia and America. The magazine Geo reports that circular currents of wind and water have driven up the trash in the area between California and Hawaii. Meanwhile, the amount of plastic debris is six times as high as the natural animal plankton in the water.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the waste will remain at least 16 years in the big swirl. This is not enough time to decompose conventional plastic: As the magazine Geo reports, it can take up to 500 years of UV radiation and oxidation to dismantle, for example, a toy duck into its molecules.

Plastic manufacturers and end users are responsible for the amount of garbage in the waters of the world.

Waste disposed illegally in the countryside is washed with the rain through streams and rivers into the oceans. The currents distribute the garbage further. A similar vortex such as the one between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland is found in the Atlantic, and there are at least three more of these in the oceans.

The waves crumble down most of the trash in tiny parts within a certain amount of time. The sun’s ultraviolet light assists them in this. What remains are tiny remnants, which are often only visible under a microscope. The majority of the millions of tons of waste in the North Pacific eddy consists of particles of poly-acrylic acid, poly-ethylene, polyamide or polyester – materials from which common plastics are made.

In one square kilometer of sea up to half a million of these plastic residues float around, as researchers say.

It our civilization’s garbage. Apart from plastic bottles, thrown over ship’s railings, all kinds of plastic packaging, left by bathers on the beaches are thrown into the water. Most of the plastic waste is produced in coastal towns and villages which dispose of used plastic objects in the sea or on the sea side.

According to UNEP, as a result, more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles are killed annually by remnants of plastic garbage floating in the oceans. Marine animals die of starvation because their stomachs are filled with plastic or because they are caught in nets and other plastic parts.

Plastics often contain toxic chemicals such as plasticizers, stabilizers or inks. In addition, toxic substances accumulate in the sea water by a multiple of the plastic surfaces. With marine mammals swallowing these particles, the substances enter the food chain.

We know that the plastics kill the marine organisms. The consumption of marine animals might in near future become highly dangerous for mankind.

During the last four decades, the international community has put an immense bureaucratic effort into ridding the seas from the waste. The 1973 adopted UN treaty to protect the oceans, the so-called MARPOL Convention, was tightened six times. Nine years ago, the European Union forbad the disposal of ship-generated waste in ports.

But all the regulations brought little to nothing!

We, of "YES" SEA & EARTH SHEPHERD and "THEATER OF THE MOMENT" want to make a significant contribution to this dismal track record.

Objectives of the project APPP ("ALBATROSS" Plastic Pollution Project 2012 - 2020):

-    Cooperation with international scientific bodies, in order to gain a better understanding of the scope, origin and effects of waste in the sea and solutions – education about the effects of plastic waste for nature and animals,

-    protection of the marine ecosystem through education at schools and public events, joint collection of plastic waste on land (cities, villages, forests, rivers, lakes), as well as ocean beaches and oceans,

-    dissemination of information about possible alternative "Recycling" processes,

-    finding new ways of processing and recycling the plastic waste into so-called secondary raw materials.

Initial focus of the project APPP:

-    Global development of small and larger plastic islands, which are in direct connection with the construction in the main island "PLASTLANTIS",

-    use of a suitable research vessel for these tasks in order to eliminate the plastic waste with appropriate bodies, such as filtering out the micro-particles through a filter system installed on the ship,

-    disposal of plastic waste through a crushing plant (shredder) located on the vessel,

-    sorting of civilization garbage in the sea and the coastal regions by a sorting plant located on the vessel,

-    erection of collection of containers on beaches and coastal regions difficult to access,

-    cleanup of the seabed from industrial waste with the help of divers’ organizations,

-    establishment of contacts with target groups,

-    scientific monitoring of the project APPP

The pilot project APPP is supported organizationally and financially by the charitable organizations "YES" SEA & EARTH SHEPHERD and "THEATER OF THE MOMENT". The necessary funds are raised by donations, funding of interest groups, public subsidies, project sponsorships, club activities and productions.

For the ALBATROSS "Plastic Pollution Project:

Manfred Capt. Reicher, Chairman of "YES" SEA SHEPHERD & EARTH

Gülsen Gürses TdA Chairman of theater of the moment,

Dipl.Ing. Birkan Ilhan construction,

Scientific advisors: Dr. Tilo Materna, molecular biologist

Ronald Blom - Planet

Logistics: Prof. Dr. Christoph Schroeder

This ALBATROSS "Plastic Pollution Project 2012 - 2020 sees itself  not  only as an active supporter of the Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter, which was published by 47 plastic organizations from all around the world of EuropePlastics.

Excerpt from the joint statement:

Global Plastics Associations Take Action on Marine Litter

The European plastics industry has been instrumental in bringing together 47 plastics industry organisations from around the world to sign up to a "Joint Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter”, which was announced at the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Hawaii in March 2011.

The Declaration outlines a set of clear objectives for industry action, and advocates close cooperation with a broad range of stakeholders to achieve substantial progress in reducing damage to the marine environment.

In the six-point strategy outlined in the Declaration, the industry will:

    Work in public-private partnerships aimed at preventing marine debris

    Work with the scientific community to better understand the scope, origins and impact of marine litter and the range of solutions to the problem

    Promote comprehensive science-based policies and enforcement of existing laws to prevent marine litter

    Promote best practices in waste management, particularly in coastal regions

    Enhance opportunities to recover plastic products for recycling and energy recovery

    Steward the transport and distribution of plastic resin pellets and products to its consumers and promote this practice along the supply chain

"Plastics litter in any environment is unacceptable. This global industry declaration will act as a catalyst for tangible actions at national, regional and international level. Contributing

to substantially reducing marine litter is essential for our industry.”

Jacques van Rijckevorsel

President, PlasticsEurope