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Of: TT
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Photo: Operation Clean Sea / AP / TT
Plastic debris and other debris in the background outside Antibes, southern France. Stock Photography.
Almost 230,000 tonnes of plastic are dumped into the Mediterranean each year, an amount that is expected to double by 2040 unless strong action is taken, warns the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Most of the plastic waste comes from Egypt, Italy and Turkey, according to the environmental organization. This is partly because the countries have many inhabitants along their coasts and partly because of a lack of waste management, according to the IUCN.
However, in terms of population size, the worst polluters are Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.
If waste management is improved in the 100 cities from which most plastic waste comes, annual discharges in the Mediterranean could be reduced by 50,000 tons, according to the IUCN. An equivalent reduction is expected to be achieved by banning the use of plastic bags throughout the Mediterranean region.
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