END PLASTIC SOUP

There is no doubt: plastic is a brilliant material.

Plastics literally make our lives easier: we carry home PET drink bottles instead of glass, our running shoes are featherlight, and mountain biking with a carbon frame is incomparable to the laborious struggle with the steel bikes of the 1980s.

Plastics can have highly specific properties perfected for particular applications. It is therefore no surprise that they have become indispensable in our daily lives. When we at Mare Nostrum draw the attention of the wider public to the pollution of water bodies with plastic waste, we are not waging war against the material plastic itself. However, we are shocked by how it is handled and the immense negative impacts that improper disposal of plastics has on people, animals, and the environment.

The global hunger for plastic is enormous. In 2019, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) published the first PLASTIC ATLAS – data and facts about a world full of plastic. This publication explores which economies produce the most plastics, the relationship between plastic production and climate change, and whether bioplastics from renewable resources are truly an alternative.

On this website, we address individual questions and provide interested readers with concrete options for action, alongside food for thought on how they can contribute to reducing the plastic waste problem. We are neither scientists nor investigative journalists. We rely on publicly available sources and compile information that we believe is worth knowing. The Plastic Atlas is a valuable resource in this regard. Above all, we want to showcase the creative, promising, and forward-looking approaches that can turn a problem into a solution.

Under "Projects," we present the specific areas in which the Mare Nostrum association is currently engaged. For these projects, we are seeking supporters. Please get in touch with us if you or your Rotary Club would like to help free our environment from plastic waste.