According to a study, the Israeli coast is polluted with more than two tons of microplastics. The beaches in Tel Aviv and Chadera are the most polluted, with almost 18,000 such particles per cubic meter, writes a team from Tel Aviv University in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.
The findings are alarming. In view of the results, contact with microplastics is practically unavoidable, the team emphasizes and points to risks for both the environment and human health. Sources of pollution are food packaging, single-use plastic products and fishing nets.
Ines Zucker’s team had investigated the level of pollution along the coast together with Israel’s Mediterranean Research Center. For this purpose, samples were taken on six beaches between Haifa and Ashkelon.
Co-author Andrey Ethan Rubin commented on the impact of around two tons of microplastics: “Environmental conditions are slowly breaking down this plastic into smaller particles.” The smaller these particles are, the more difficult it is to remove them from the environment and the more harmful they are to the environment and human health. “The plastic particles drifting into the sea are swallowed by fish, and their remains end up reaching people.”
In view of the results, researcher Zucker called for regulatory steps “to reduce Israel’s contribution to the pollution of the Mediterranean Sea with microplastics”. Microplastics usually refer to plastic particles with a diameter of less than five millimeters.
