Due to the nature of the Black Sea water, which is oxygen-free, waste that falls into it remains there eternally. The only chance to clear them is to wait for the currents to bring waste products to the shore and then carry them out. It’s with this little mentioned and very curious fact that we choose to celebrate October 31th – The International Black Sea Day – one of the largest and most interesting inland seas in the world, OUR sea.
The Black Sea is the largest water basin with layers of water that do not mix with each other. So much of the plastic that floats beneath the surface layer remains “invisible”. A year ago, in an interview with the Trud newspaper, Assoc. Prof. Trayan Trayanov, PhD, from the Institute of Oceanology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Varna, warned about the “new marine deserts” – plastic dumps of macrosynthetic rubbish that flow along the currents. Many of them cluster in the southeastern part of the Black Sea. At a depth of more than 200 meters the concentration of hydrogen sulfide is so high that it does not allow oxygen to penetrate. In this way the tree and the ropes of the wreck are prevented from rotting. The ancients believed that Death lived in the depths of the sea because human remains at the bottom did not change or changed extremely slowly. Perhaps is not by chance that we celebrate Halloween and the Black Sea Day on the same date.
What can we do for OUR sea?
Always use reusable containers! If this is not possible, separate the waste and hand it over for recycling!
If you have a child in kindergarten, join the “I choose reusable cup!” because plastic cups are not recyclable.
If you work in an office with many employees and paper waste, join Leaf by Leaf campaign and collect paper, plastic and metal waste in separate bins!
Don’t turn the Black Sea into an everyday Halloween!
Translator: Valentina Vagge