Plastic bag free Salina
The “Plastic bag free Salina” campaign has been launched by Blue Marine Foundation and the Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund, in collaboration with the municipalities of the island, with the aim of drastically reducing the distribution and consumption of single-use plastic bags. 6000 reusable shopping bags have been donated to the island’s food and markets (20 places).
The project was born with the desire to raise awareness and discourage the consumption of disposable plastic bags offering a simple solution. Salina is an island already sensitive to respect the environment and we have chosen the greenest island to launch this pilot project. The goal is to limit the impact of plastic pollution on our delicate ecosystem.
Marine species, including sea turtles, confuse plastic bags for food, risking being entangled, poisoned or suffocated.
According to the Italian law, single use bags must be both biodegradable and compostable. The very thin bags for fruit and vegetables (thickness under 15 microns) must be biodegradable and compostable.The reusable plastic bags must have specific thickness requirements and be made of recycled plastic and must be affixed to the manufacturer’s identifying elements and suitable statements to certify the possession of the thicknesses and other legal requirements.We have posters in each of the markets encouraging this.
All the single use bags must be paid for by the consumers.
All municipalities of the island (Santa Marina, Malfa and Leni) have sponsored the project. The municipality of Malfa had already issued an order against the distribution of disposable plastic and will soon be followed by the municipality of Santa Marina.
In Europe, according to the latest data released by the ENPA (Environmental Protection Agency), an annual consumption of 100 billion bags is estimated and about 90% of them are used only once and often abandoned in the environment. It takes about 500 years for a plastic bag to break up into micro fragments that, through ingestion by marine organisms, enter the food chain, threatening human health.
The initiative has been officially presented on September 15th, in the square of Santa Marina, on the occasion of the Salina Doc Fest, a famous local documentary’s festival, with the aim to involve local people and tourists to use the reusable bags and refuse the single use.
The aim of the foundations in the long term is to drive the local community and the local administration in Salina, through a path towards sustainabily and respect for their island. As a start we decided to focus on single use plastic bags. We want to ensure that the local administration implement the law as well as fulfil their current obligations under the national and EU law on the issue.
Our vision is that Salina’s authentic natural, cultural and historical beauty remains free of plastic pollution. That our marine ecosystems, our land we cultivate, our local food, our drinking water, the air we breathe contain no harmful plastic products. It is a vision where local people and local governments act as custodians of the islands succeeding to eliminate all single-use plastic and reduce the use of all non-essential plastic products. This campaign is just one element of our longer term waste management goal, to create a sensible system which reduces the overall use of single use plastics, and encourages recycling wherever possible.
