Champagne on the seabed

A sea clean up project last weekend in Portals Vells revealed a staggering amount of discarded Champagne bottles on the seabed.

Last weekend a group of scuba divers embarked on a project to clean up the sea in the Portals Vells area of Mallorca and were shocked by what they found. The clean-up was organised by Eco Projects Mallorca, and spanned two days.

Champagne bottles littered the seabed

Out of a staggering 450 kilos of rubbish collected, 80% was glass and consisted in part of thousands of empty champagne bottles, which appear to have accumulated over the course of many years. Discarded bottles littered the seabed, with some having been there so long that they had to be dug out of the sand in order to be retrieved.

Portals Vells is a desirable place for boats to pass through, the majority of which are luxury yachts, with wealthy owners and guests who continue to throw bottles into the sea, despite raised awareness over the last few years of the issues of litter and its effects on the fragile marine ecosystem.

Empty Champagne bottles removed and taken away

Part of the two-day project involved the cleaning of all items collected from the seabed, to ensure that as much sand remained in the sea as possible and avoid causing further damage to the ecosystem. The bottles and other debris were then gathered up and taken away in a trailer.

According to professional diver and president of Eco Projects Mallorca, Thomas Heise, the 450 kilos of waste collected only amounted to some 25% of discarded material on the seabed, a worrying statistic for an island renowned for its stunning beaches.