Microplastics in the water. In the seas, in agricultural waters and so in fruit and vegetables, but also in Italian lakes. The large reservoirs that provide drinking water to several million inhabitants.
Silent emergence surfaces in analysis reports conducted as part of the international research project
Life – Blue Lakes
.
In just two years, average concentrations of plastic micro-particles per km2 have multiplied in lakes Garda (+1.330%), Bracciano (+335%) and Trasimeno (+313%).
The chemical safety of the pivotal food of life is in jeopardy, but health authorities-in Italy, as in the EU and elsewhere on the planet-continue to overlook a widely publicized risk. Until when?
Microplastics in Italian lakes
Legambiente and ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), in preliminary study in 2016, had already highlighted the presence of microplastics in 6 Italian lakes (Iseo, Garda, Lake Maggiore, Trasimeno, Albano and Bolsena). Analyses conducted in subsequent years showed the rapid as well as dramatic deterioration of the situation.
‘In Lake Garda it went from 9,900 particles in 2017 to 131,619 in 2019 per km2. In Trasimeno waters from nearly 8,000 in 2017 to 25,000 particles in 2019. On Lake Bracciano from 117,288 particles recorded in 2017 to 392,401 in 2019. The predominant form present in all lakes in the three years is fragments, which mostly result from the breakdown of waste’ (Legambiente).
Causes and composition of pollutants
Microplastics flow into lakes through wastewater (domestic and industrial), runoff, surface runoff, atmospheric deposition and fragmentation of larger wastes.
The causes of pollution are partly related to everyone’s daily actions. Uncivilized behavior, such as abandonment in the environment or improper disposal of plastic waste. But even seemingly harmless activities, such as washing synthetic fabrics in the washing machine (e.g., the acrylic, nylon), which release up to 1.5 million microfibers per turn. Or the use of cosmetics, which some giants still make with the addition of microplastics(sic!).
The composition of pollutants varies, from the two lakes in Central to Northern Italy:
-In lakes Bracciano and Trasimeno, polyethylene particles, derived from decomposing packaging, outnumber plastic fragments,
-In Garda there is a higher concentration of filaments (from fabrics, clothing) and polystyrene fragments (from the degradation of boxes and packaging).
Life Blue Lakes, the research project
The Blue Lakes project, under the European LIFE Research Program, focuses on five lakes. (1) Bracciano Trasimeno and Garda in Italy, Constance and Chiemsee in Germany. With the goals of establishing standard monitoring protocols and developing, together with local communities, a ‘Lake Charter’. That is, ‘a voluntary commitment signed by all stakeholders involving the adoption of good management practices and the dissemination of circular economy models to protect lakes and reduce the impact of economic activities.’
‘The data on the presence and spread of microplastics in inland water ecosystems collected over the past few years make it possible to improve and deepen our understanding of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly widespread, but for which there is still no international standardization of monitoring methods.
There are no monitoring programs for microplastics in lakes. Experience to date highlights the need to initiate seasonal collection campaigns according to a shared protocol of sampling and analytical methods.
This willmake it possible to collect and share useful data for the assessment and management of the microplastics phenomenon in lake basins and in the complex land-sea dynamics’
(Maria Sighicelli, ENEA researcher, Department of Sustainability of Productive and Territorial Systems).
What solutions? Conflict of interest
Life Blue Lakes
also aims to identify solutions to reduce pollution. But the project is co-funded by Plastics Europe, the European confederation of plastics manufacturers. Conflict of interest. The focus will therefore be on:
– sewage and treatment plants, to ‘discuss and develop solutions that reduce and prevent further primary loads of microplastics in lakes.’
– public awareness, to promote behaviors that reduce the spread of plastic waste in the environment.
Plastics are the real problem, and we need to drastically reduce their use in every area of production. Starting with food packaging, as noted above. Indeed, one must consider the Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of plastics and their increasing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, in addition to the trouble of micro- and nanoplastics.
The unspoken words
The Covid-19 pandemic has further aggravated an already serious context. According to assessments by ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Ricerca e Protezione Ambientale), about 1,240 tons of disposable masks and gloves are used every day in Italy. Even taking into account the partial reuse of the former, these materials will lead to an increase in plastic waste estimated at nearly 300 thousand tons in 2020.
Microplastic and nanoplastic pollution cannot be addressed without working on the first rung of Lansink’s ladder, or waste hierarchy,
Reduce
. Lo
European Green Deal
should therefore:
- extend to a wider range of single-use plastic items than the mild bans introduced in theSingle-Use Plastics Directive (SUPs). Starting with plastic cups, so far shamefully excluded,
- Introduce more ambitious targets in the Circular Economy Package,
- Promote research aimed at the development and use of alternative materials, derived from organic and renewable sources (e.g., hemp, vegetable clippings and waste, bamboo),
- discourage the use of non-reusable plastics and promote the adoption of good practices for reuse (on the second rung of Lansink’s scale), even before recycling (instead on the third rung). Even with tax measures, which Italy stubbornly delays.
Food security cannot wait. The scientific literature has already highlighted a number of risks associated with the consumption of micro- and nanoplastics. Toxic substances, endocrine disruptors, vectors of pathogenic microorganisms, heavy metals. And it has been shown how they have now become part of the diet of the world’s populations. WHO urged the 193 member states to assess public health risks, referring precisely to water (drinking and mineral).
The European Commission, in several press releases, states that it adheres to the One Health approach. On the basis of which human health should be addressed along with animal health and welfare and environmental protection. Nonetheless, the Drinking Water Directive-though updated in 2015 (via EU dir. 2015/1787)-does not include any analysis on the concentration of microplastics in water intended for human consumption. But the European Commission has not yet instructed EFSA to provide the scientific analysis of the relevant risks. Nor have the member states taken charge of the situation.
Until when?
Dario Dongo and Sabrina Bergamini
Notes
(1) Lead partner and coordinator is Legambiente, with the collaboration of Arpa Umbria, Autorità di Bacino dell’Italia Centrale, ENEA, Global Nature Fund, Lake Constance Foundation and the Università Politecnica delle Marche
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Journalist. Consumption, rights, nutrition, social, environment. Head of Consumers Help. She collaborated with ResetDOC, Il Riformista, La Nuova Ecologia, IMGPress.
