Why is plastic pollution so dangerous for our seas? And what’s the most unexpected find in Venice’s canals? We asked Italian researcher Fantina Madricardo, who led a project using high-tech solutions to tackle the plastic crisis. Watch the video above.
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00:00What makes marine plastic so dangerous?
00:04Marine plastic is dangerous because it degrades and can be ingested by organisms.
00:15They can suffocate, but they can also enter their tissues and become microplastics
00:24and become dangerous for humans when they enter the food chain.
00:29Here in Venice, where does most plastic pollution come from?
00:34Here in Venice, a lot of plastic has been lost or deliberately abandoned.
00:42Because you can't see it and you can't think about it,
00:46you say, well, I'll throw it in the water, it doesn't matter, as if it didn't exist anymore.
00:50Instead, out at sea, there are also a lot of waste related to fishing activities.
00:55Some nets are lost from fishing, others are abandoned, as we have seen in our project.
01:03Through Maelstrom, you and your team have collected over 7 tons of marine litter.
01:08What are some of the most surprising things that you have found?
01:12We have found a bit of everything.
01:14For example, here in Venice, we have found a pedal boat, an abandoned boat.
01:19There are many of them here in Venice.
01:21Or tires, which are very common here because they are used as fenders for boats.
01:30In Venice, car tires are a bit paradoxical, but that's how it is.