France: protests against plastic ball pollution on the Atlantic coast
Dozens of volunteers search for plastic beads on a beach in Pornic, after a large amount of them washed up on the shore, polluting the beaches of Pornic, in western France, on January 21, 2023 AFP - LOIC VENANCE
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
After Finistère in December, Vendée in mid-January, it is the turn of the beaches of Loire-Atlantique and Morbihan to suffer a real white tide of plastic balls.
This weekend, several events are organized along the coast.
This was the case in Pornic on Saturday afternoon January 21.
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Saturday afternoon, on the beach of Pornic, about 150 volunteers responded to the call of the NGO
Surfrider Foundation
.
Purpose of the operation: to collect as many plastic pellets as possible, but above all to show their anger.
These pellets, also called GPI (industrial plastic pellets) or "mermaid's tears", are melted to make all everyday plastic objects.
Lionel Cheylus, spokesperson for the NGO, is worried about the consequences of this white tide.
“
It has consequences for biodiversity since the fish will ingest these plastics,
he confides to the microphone of
Lucie Bouteloup
, from the France service of RFI.
We know that plastic now poses concerns for human health;
so if we suffocate the ocean with plastic, very clearly, our future is at stake.
”
GPI (industrial plastic granules) or "mermaid's tears", are melted down to make all everyday plastic objects.
AFP - LOIC VENANCE
A container fallen into the sea?
For now, if no culprit has been identified, it is the track of the overturning of a container at sea which is the most likely.
After complaints from associations and elected officials in the face of this ecological tragedy, the Ministry of Ecological Transition also announced, on Saturday afternoon, that it was going to take legal action.
"
Let's hope it can help us find the culprits,
" continues Lionel Cheylus.
It's always very complicated to file a complaint against X because we don't know where this container is, we don't know how it got damaged, it's a long and complicated investigation.
What counts for us are preventive measures, sanctions and legislation taken at European level against polluters.
It's gone on long enough, we're tired of it.
»
✊ day of citizen activism to empower #plastic #industries for industrial plastic pellet pollution.
Plastic pollution = guilty industry!
Example here in #Plouarzel (#Finistère) pic.twitter.com/8CS96YCG0S
— Surfrider France (@surfriderfrance) January 21, 2023
The mayor of Pornic, Jean-Michel Brard, was also present on the beach.
He filed a complaint against X on Monday following this pollution, as did the mayor of Les Sables d'Olonne, Yannick Moreau, and the president of the Pays de la Loire region, Christelle Morançais.
This Sunday, a new event is announced on the beach of Longeville-sur-Mer in Vendée.
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See also
:
on the route of giant cargo ships, a report on France 5
.
When containers fall into the water, the goods they contain wash up on the beaches, in France and elsewhere...
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