But theyre still hungry so they keep eating and it compounds, compounds, compounds and they explode on the inside," said Casper van de Geer, manager of Local Ocean Conservation, which runs the Watamu turtle rescue."Ita very successful story, we are hoping to release it if not today, in the next two days or so."It has fully recovered, when you take it out (of the recovery tank) it is flapping, it is fighting," he said.Most common are bottle tops, but there are also cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, food containers, different lengths of string, drinks bottles and of course, the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag.1 billion tonnes of plastic had been produced to date, most of it dumped into landfills and the oceans.According to environmental group WWF, 8. when it finds something like this..Fisherman-turned-environmentalist Kahindi Changawa, 40, looks with a smile over the tank for Kai, a green turtle which has been recovering from plastic ingestion at the Watamu rehabilitation centre for nearly a month..
Ahead of the UNEA meeting to tackle the scourge of pollution, UN Environment Programme head Erik Solheim urged action to stop the oceans becoming China easy peel lidding film Manufacturers a "plastic soup"."Elsewhere in town, a project called Regeneration Africa melts and treats the plastic gathered by volunteers such as Iddi, and moulds it into paving stones and other materials to sell for funds to continue the anti-plastic drive..For six days now, no plastic has been spotted in the turtlestool, Changawa says with tangible relief.As its human handlers step aside, Kenzo struggles out of the harness, pushes hard with its flippers on the sand, and slides into small waves specked with bits of plastic trash."Many others will not be so lucky."In Watamu, the locals do what they can.."Or they are in such pain that they recognise that they have to stop eating and they basically starve," he told AFP at WatamuBlue Lagoon as he repeatedly bent down to pick up one piece of beach litter after the other..The problem is a global one, affecting all the oceans and hundreds of animal and plant species."Plastic ocean pollution is a key item on the menu for ministers from over 100 countries gathering in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi for a three-day UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) starting Monday.On current trends, he warned, "by 2050 there will be more # plastic in the seas than fish.
