Our bathroom is closer to the sea than we might think – so close, in fact, that 10% of waste found on beaches comes from there. That's why Legambiente is launching the #NoRifiutiNeiWc campaign.
Our bathrooms are far closer to the sea than we might imagine. We discovered this by looking at what turns up on Italian beaches. Waste of every kind, including items flushed down our toilets at home, accounts for 10 per cent of the total waste washed ashore. The journey these items make sometimes meets no obstacle at all – partly due to the well-known shortcomings of wastewater treatment in our country – and we end up finding them among the sun loungers and beach umbrellas. We are talking in particular about cotton buds that are improperly disposed of down the toilet and, slipping through the filters of treatment plants, have one single destination: the sea.
Through Legambiente's Beach litter survey, we counted more than seven thousand plastic sticks across 46 beaches – two cotton bud sticks for every step across the sand. And there is no shortage of medicine blister packs, sanitary towels, plasters, contact lens cases, and even toilet deodorisers, toothbrushes, razors and pregnancy tests.
The problem of waste in the sea and on beaches is one that is taking on truly alarming proportions. Plastic causes enormous damage to marine wildlife, to the tourist economy, to fishing, and ends up contaminating our food chain as well. It is a problem that must be tackled on land, above all by optimising waste management at source – the real reason waste reaches the sea – and by intervening from a legislative and industrial standpoint to reduce the production of single-use plastic packaging. And, of course, there is still a great deal to be done in terms of raising public awareness about properly disposing of and sorting waste.
It is also for this reason that #NoRifiutiNelWc was created – Legambiente's new campaign developed by Ogilvy Change, which is taking its message across Italy alongside Goletta Verde, the historic vessel of Legambiente that every year monitors the health of the sea and coastline. We identified a problem and, for once, the solution is truly very simple and, above all, depends on us: simply do not flush waste down the toilet. At the same time, however, we want a law banning the production and sale of plastic sticks, following the example of what Italy did in banning plastic bags and in line with France's decision to ban cotton buds from 2020 onwards.
Law or no law, the rule remains the same: #NoRifiutiNelWc. And, before flushing, let's think about it: our bathrooms are a window onto the sea, and the word "biodegradable" or even "flushable" that appears on so many products is no good reason to pull the chain. Are you really sure it is safe and necessary to use cotton buds to clean your ears?