More than five kilos of cigarette butts, corks, small plastic pieces, straws, nets and fishing lines, were gathered today by volunteers who cleaned about a kilometer of beach and seabed in the port of Ayia Napa.
Marios Papageorgiou, Director of the Research Center "Underwater Nature Environmental Research Center" said that "the event took place under the bi-communal program MarLitCy" Marine Litter for Synergies, Capacity-building and Peacebuilding ", funded by the European Union under the VI Program To strengthen the Cypriot Civil Society and is implemented by the Famagusta Walled City Association (MASDER), AKTI Center for Studies and Research, Environmental Research Center Enalia Fysis and North Cyprus Diving Centers Association ".
He added that "a total of 38 volunteers participated in the clean-up, of which 20 divers cleaned the seabed and the remaining 18 the shore. Among them are ten people from a group called Pick it up, a total of one kilometer of beach was cleaned in front of the port of Ayia Napa, the cleaning lasted about two hours and we had the support of the Municipality of Ayia Napa ".
Dimitra Orthodoxou, Program Manager of the Center for Studies and Research "AKTH" said that "as usual on organized beaches like the one we cleaned today, we find a lot of cigarette butts and small plastics that remain on the beach, after the cleaning by the crews of the Municipality . However, it is a surprise to everyone how much small rubbish is left behind on the beach and it is the ones that actually cause a big problem because we can never remove it from the beach ".
He added that "within 20 to 30 minutes that the cleaning of the beach lasted, we collected more than five kilos of small rubbish. In total, about 3 and a half thousand cigarette butts were collected, too many caps and straws, but also several small pieces of plastic ".
He noted that "from the bottom were collected many plastic bottles that end up in the sea from the land, some networks which are a big problem, since they are the so-called ghost networks as they continue to fish even when lost in the sea. "Some pieces from tourism activities were also collected, including pieces of plastic from beach beds, fishing lines and irons."
According to the Orthodox, "it is very important to clean the beaches and the seas, since unfortunately whatever ends up in the sea is very difficult to leave. It is also important to organize actions, such as today, which is a bi-communal action, since we also had Turkish Cypriot volunteer divers and other people from all over Cyprus, as public awareness on the issue of garbage increases and it is realized how important it is. prevention rather than management ".
Besides, Pampos Theodorou, Director of Kimon Diving Academy stated that "we generally participate in all events related to beach and seabed cleaning and we are quite aware of the environment in general. I believe that every year we get better and better and the message goes to the people who have changed their behavior ".
He noted that the result of the change in the behavior of the people is "every time to collect less rubbish from the seabed, which is what is required, that is, to find less rubbish."
Stefani Symeonidou, one of three 16-year-old girls, who represents the company "CIPEN" said that "what we do is recycle cigarette butts and turn them into pen ink. "It's something we started six months ago and we use something so useless and at the same time harmful to the environment and we make it something useful that everyone uses in their daily lives."
Answering a relevant question, Stefani said that the team took part "in the Junior Achievement Competition of Cyprus, where we had to make our own Start Up. "After we won the competition in Cyprus, we then participated in the European competition where we won two entrepreneurship awards, while now we continue the recycling and the production of ink in general".