A study published by Viana do Castelo council reveals that the majority of rubbish washing up on local beaches comes from Malaysia, Spain and Germany.
The discovery followed four ‘beach clear-up’ initiatives organised in 2017.
A number of “strange items” were collected among the 200 kilos of plastic and detritus, among them identification tape from hospitals, syringes, bits of fireworks, laboratory analysis containers, ear plugs and washing pegs.
The clean-ups were part of a project launched to monitor maritime refuse promoted by State environmental agency APA.
A further initiative will be taking place this weekend, the results of which will eventually be integrated into a new report cataloging the vagaries of seaborne rubbish.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
