Living in North Cyprus we observe and hear folk complaining about rubbish which perhaps is no different to other countries but the big difference is we are an island with masses of plastic swirling around our shores.
So what can we do? I make a regular trip to Şah Marketplace in Çatalköy with my collection of all sorts of plastics I have saved during the week plus cans which can then be recycled and if everyone on the island did the same we would have a chance of solving the problem by ensuring our plastics do not end up in the sea making the situation much worse.
There are many people also doing what they can to reduce the rubbish mountain and we had written on 2 occasions about the No Straws In North Cyprus group click here .
Supporting them is a group of walkers click here who have been in training to walk Cape to Cape across North Cyprus on Tuesday 30th October and in a recent group posting of the walking group, Gary Abbott Taff said the following:
“Monday 27th August.
Boom, big walk today, 26 Miles with Mark, absolutely over the moon with pace, rest etc, legs are tired just want to say a huge thanks to Support, Gina for dropping us off at silly o’clock at Bogaz and Karen for recovery with cider at Akdeniz. Walking that distance you have a lot of time for reflection, I have my own reasons for doing these silly distances, part of which are the sponsors Olive Press, Montenegro, Ela bar, Roadhouse and Fly inn for their support also to hopefully raise awareness of the shit we are dumping.
So Today, with Mark Ryan we walked 26 miles in 36 degree heat, all peeps that read this might be thinking Taff has gone mad again, I’m doing all this in the hope that I can draw people’s attention to what we are doing with plastics, now I’m not particularly a greenie, I don’t have kids but I do have young family and friends likewise, I take my dogs to the water every day and am gobsmacked by the amount of plastics floating from large to small. Doing some research tells me anybody that eats any form of seafood is now ingesting plastic. If I could change the thinking of just one person regarding plastic straws, bags or bottles, I will have done what I set out to do, please give it some thought, do you really need these items?
Most discarded plastic ends up in the ocean, please for the sake of the kids sort it out.
As another example how bad the situation is watch a documentary called the Plastic Whale.
Please Share , hopefully over time we can all make a difference”
Editors Note: Next time you have a delicious mouthful of fish, consider how much plastic you may be eating!
