News

With over 200 participants and a ton of waste collected, the fourth edition of Puliamo la Sella closes, the collective Clean up event promoted by the MEDSEA Foundation to clean up the beach, sea and seabed around La Sella del Diavolo, in Cagliari. Over a ton of waste collected along the coast and in the seabed in this year's edition dedicated to the sea turtle, a species seriously threatened by pollution from plastics in the sea throughout the Mediterranean. In recent days, an e-tour aboard a special car (Mini Cooper SE Full Electric), covered for the occasion by a sea turtle and made available by Special Car Group, partner of the event, made a stop in the recovery centers of the sea turtles of Villasimius (First Aid Center) and of Nora (Lagoon of Nora recovery center), to then deliver two donations of € 500 each to support the projects at the end of the event. 

According to data from the regional network for the Conservation of Marine Fauna in Sardinia, 66 specimens were rescued in 2021 (42 in 2020 and 40 in 2019) in the 6 regional centers in Sardinia, data on the rise due to both a "greater sensitivity" shown from several reports from ordinary citizens (to the emergency numbers 1530 and 1515), but also because the problem of plastics in the sea continues to be far from being solved. Overall, every year 229 thousand tons of plastics end up in the Mediterranean: it is as if every day 500 containers unload their contents into the water. It is estimated that over one million tons of plastic are currently present in the Mediterranean. Plastic pollution causes even fatal damage to marine life through entrapment, ingestion and suffocation. 

Puliamo La Sella 2022, with the patronage of the Municipality of Cagliari, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Regional Network for the Conservation of Marine Fauna), within the Europe Maritime Day with Europe Direct Sardinia, was held in collaboration with a dozen sports and non-sports associations: the Reset Cagliari student association, Olè Kayak Kayak School, Isula Fishing Club, TuttiInSup, Tribune Amsicora Stadium, Cooperativa Golfo degli Angeli, Windsurfing Cagliari, Subaquadive Service Diving Cagliari, Upside Down Sardinia, ASD "Bike Lab", Seaworld Diving Center, E-boats Sardinia. 

"Every year we notice an ever-increasing participation of a mixed audience of adults, children and even some tourists - explains Alessio Satta, president of the MEDSEA Foundation - who does not just collect waste on the beach only on this occasion, but takes care all year round of the places they love and live, often involving and informing us, and this makes us even more happy of the results over time. As a foundation, we believe that our effort must be accelerated to eliminate plastic in the sea that irreversibly compromises the marine ecosystem ". 

Puliamo la Sella! the great clean up event in Cagliari has been organized by the MEDSEA Foundation since 2018, within the Plastic Free Med project, and aims to raise awareness of the problem of plastics and waste at sea. From 2018 to 2021, in over 22 events held in Sardinia and other areas of the Mediterranean, it allowed the collection of almost 65 tons of plastics and other waste at sea.