The My Sea Campaign event on the beach of Karklė took place on the same day as the 19th science festival “Spaceship Earth” held in Klaipėda. Project ESMIC held environmental education lectures and practical sessions for schoolchildren, so the younger generation could get acquainted with the problem of litter polluting the marine environment, contribute to coastal pollution research, and see with their own eyes the microplastics in personal hygiene products.

During the My Sea Campaigns simultaneous observations, 358 pieces of litter were found on the Karklė beach in a section of about 100 m. Just to keep in mind, the limit defining Good Environmental Status is 20 units, so in Melnragė excess of 17 times was observed. So Karklė beach is not far behind, and on that day, GAB exceeded the target value by about 18 times.

About 0.6 pieces/m2 of litter were found in the algae accumulations, while about 0.18 pieces/m2 were found in the nearby beach sand. Yet another proof that there is several times more garbage polluting the beaches in the algae accumulations than in the nearby sand.

Some statistics:

87 percent of all found objects were polymer materials (plastics), most of which were single-use plastic products.

206 cigarette butts were found (~58% of found litter).