Cleaning our shorelines: more than just volunteering
University of Alicante, one of the ViSS project partner, organised a beach clean-up where students from the Department of Ecology collected plastic waste from the shores of Agua Amarga (Spain) on February 25th
Besides serving as a volunteering opportunity, the event offered a Citizen Science experience, where participants have also recorded their findings using a standardized classification system. Subsequently, these data were uploaded to Marine Litter Watch, a citizen-based app that makes it accessible to anyone interested in utilizing it.
The analysis of the data, well explained in the paper titled “Anthropogenic and environmental factors partly co-determine the level, composition and temporal variation of beach debris”, shows that both environmental and anthropogenic factors co-determine the level and composition of beach debris.
Coastal clean-up initiatives like the one organized by the University of Alicante, exemplify ViSS’s dedication to fostering environmental awareness and community engagement through impactful actions.