ARE WE AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF PLASTIC IN OUR WATERS? LECTURE: ARE WE AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF PLASTIC IN OUR WATERS?
The lecture will take place this Thursday, 10 March 2016, at 6.00 pm at the City Museum of Ljubljana, Gosposka 15, as part of the WATER exhibition.
Dr Manca Kovač Viršek and Uroš Robič will present the issue of plastic in water.
Plastic waste is one of the most common and dangerous types of waste found in water. Global plastic production has been growing exponentially since 1960 and exceeded 300 million tonnes per year in 2013. As many as 10–20 million tonnes of plastic produced each year end up in the oceans and seas. It is known that 70 per cent of this originates from land. Much is already known about plastic pollution in the seas, but we know considerably less about pollution in inland waters. Due to its fragmentation into smaller particles, known as microplastics, plastic is one of the modern pollutants that poses a danger to humans. Due to their small size, microplastics can be carried by water between different ecosystems and enter the food chain, thereby threatening all living organisms. In Slovenia, the first large-scale studies of microplastics in the sea were carried out as part of the international DeFishGear project, along with some preliminary studies on the Ljubljanica River, Lake Bled and one of the municipal wastewater treatment plants. At the lecture, you will learn about the sources of microplastics, how they threaten life on Earth, and what we as individuals can do to help reduce plastic waste pollution.
Attachment: Invitation to the exhibition and lecture