Garbage floating every 13 meters in Venices Canals

The movement, Don't Waste Venice, was launched by Legambiente in the

preparation for the arrival in the lagoon of Goletta Verde. A preliminary investigation
revealed more than 500 pieces of garbage in 700 kilometers.
June27,2015

VENICE- More than 500 floating pieces of garbage were recovered in seven
kilometers (on average, one every thirteen meters), 87% of which are plastic
containers. These data emerge from the preliminary analysis of the monitoring
carried out in previous days in the canals of Giudecca, in the environment of the
campaign Dont Waste Venice, inserted into the European research project
DeFishGear. The results were presented in Venice, in light of the arrival in the
lagoon of Legambientes Goletta Verde. Coming from the details of the first results of
the campaign, the containers of liquid represent more than 25% of the total garbage
collected; also very widespread were pieces of plastic and polyester (16%) and parts
of packaging (12%). Cigarette butts, cigarette packs and lighters constitute 9% of the
trash found, while bags of trash, full and empty, amounted to 6% of the total.
We thought of this movement explains Luigi Lazzaro, president of Legambiente
Veneto because these pieces of garbage in the sea, and in particular the plastic, is
an understated problem, but now must be considered like an emergency. In this
environment, Venice, a complex city, it is a more particular issue, although the city
has not surrendered to the fact that it must manage the problem.