Ear sticks and littered oceans

For the seventh time, the city of Zittau and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences jointly hosted Environment Day. This year’s theme was “Plastic Everywhere.” On Wednesday, November 8, environmentalists and scientists addressed the issue of plastic waste polluting the oceans and explored recycling concepts that offer hope. Girls and boys from Zittau’s climate schools—Christian-Weise-Gymnasium and Weinau-Oberschule—created an exhibition for “Environment Day.”

What does a supermarket shopping bag have to do with a strangled seal in the Indian Ocean? Nothing, of course, you might think? That’s what many thought. During the 8 a.m. lecture by Dr. Gernot Kayser from the International University Institute Zittau (IHI), the tenth-graders from Zittau’s climate schools briefly look up from their cell phones when the baby seal with sad, wide eyes appears on the screen. The lecture hall falls silent; the seal has become entangled in a fishing net and a pile of plastic bags. And strictly speaking, it’s our fault.

Plastic has been produced for over 60 years. When we throw away packaging, it’s gone—at least out of sight. But plastic is extremely durable; what was produced 60 years ago is still around today, hasn’t decomposed, and is most likely floating in the ocean. Along with about two million cigarette butts, beer coasters, and plastic cutlery from McDonald’s.

A few people in the audience at the lecture “Macro- and Microplastics in the Ocean” tuck their plastic bottles back into their bags. We don’t live by the ocean; we don’t see the floating islands of plastic, nor do we see strangled seals. But a quarter of the fish sold in markets in the U.S. and Indonesia contain detectable plastic particles. We don’t know if the fish in the frozen food aisle might be from Indonesia. And that’s just one consequence of our way of life.

After the presentation by IHI Zittau, we went on a field trip to the wastewater treatment plant. In addition to the interested participants in the Environment Day, about 40 children from the Weinau School were there. The fourth-graders asked the questions the adults didn’t dare to ask: “When can you drink water that smells so bad?” The SOWAG employees who guided the group through the facility saw a lot of little hands shooting up in response to all their questions.

“Who knows what’s actually in wastewater?”

“Ear swabs!” “Poop!” “And a little bit of vomit!”

Wastewater treatment is a mandatory municipal responsibility and serves primarily to protect public health. The wastewater flows through the sewer system to the wastewater treatment plants. These plants are the lowest point in the system; all the water flows there. It is then repeatedly treated through a complex process involving many treatment tanks and ultimately discharged back into the Neisse River. However, no drinking water is produced here. At the facility on Chopinstraße in Zittau, only wastewater is treated.

By the way, food waste—such as spoiled pumpkin soup—does not belong in the toilet but rather on the compost pile or in the organic waste bin; otherwise, it attracts rats and causes them to multiply more quickly.

Environment Day, which is entirely dedicated to the topic of plastic, is not meant to be a day of accusations. Not only that. The goal is to raise awareness, inform the public, and, above all, present alternatives that offer hope. Major companies like Adidas are leading the way with running shoes made from ocean waste. Zittau is following suit: the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace Dresden wants to establish a chapter in Zittau. On December 1, anyone interested is invited to meet at 6 p.m. at Cafe Jolesch, Klienebergerplatz 1 in Zittau.

At Building Z IV, participants were able to recycle plastic with the Dresden-based organization konglomerat e.V. Anyone interested is welcome to join the Kunststoffschmiede at the Rosenwerk in Dresden at any time.

To set the mood for the screening of the film “A Plastic Ocean” at the Kronenkino, there was a community meal (Vokü) featuring vegan burgers in the foyer, along with stimulating conversations about World Environment Day.

The film addressed the die-off of coral reefs caused by humans, our treatment of nature, and the masses of plastic already floating in the oceans—which will likely never be completely removed. Plastic releases plasticizers. Sunlight, seawater, and the passage of time cause the plastic to break down into its individual components, turning it into microplastics that are even harder to manage because they’re barely visible.

After the credits roll, there’s only one feeling: helplessness. A discussion unfolds from the stage to the audience. If everything is hopeless anyway, and all that plastic can never be removed from the oceans, what can we actually change? Until project staff member Eric Schön from the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences —and co-initiator of Environment Day—takes the floor and reassures the crowd. He expresses his gratitude for the day and the stimulating discussions. And emphasizes that this is just the very beginning.

In Germany, 40,000 metric tons of waste are generated each year from coffee-to-go cups. That’s equivalent to the weight of 33,000 Volkswagens. We’d already be making a big difference by filling our delicious mountain spring water into glass bottles and pouring our coffee into reusable coffee mugs.