WWF-Turkiye launches project against plastic waste in seas

Mehmet Çınar-ISTANBUL

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Türkiye has initiated the 'Adopt a Beach' project with an aim to address the pressing issue of plastic waste in Türkiye's seas and collect scientific data on marine pollution.

Experts from WWF-Türkiye noted that 24,000 tons of plastic pollution enter the oceans surrounding Türkiye each year, emphasizing that plastic pollution is a severe threat not only to nature but also to human health.

The 'Adopt a Beach' project is a pioneering concept that attempts to prevent plastic pollution by harnessing the power of the people, where volunteer teams would symbolically adopt a beach to combat plastic pollution in the seas, according to experts.

According to Togay Tanyolaç, a specialist in plastic projects, the 'Adopt a Beach' initiative seeks to establish the most extensive real-time waste monitoring map in Türkiye.

Tanyolaç emphasized the pivotal role of volunteers and young individuals in driving this project forward. According to Tanyolaç, the primary objective of the project is to gather data regarding the composition of coastal debris in nations spanning three continents next to the Mediterranean Sea.

"Teams can complete the registration process on the official website, sahilsahiplen.org, and select a beach location that is deemed appropriate for their purposes. Based on the current waste sorting practices, it has been observed that a group consisting of eight individuals typically requires a time frame of four to six hours to successfully accomplish the sorting process. This action is repeated four times each year to generate data that is publicly available on the program's website and will change over time," Tanyolaç stated.