November the 30th, 2021 - A group of Opuzen school kids spent the recent World Childrens' Day cleaning up plastic waste from the Neretva river mouth as a way to protect an honour their environment.
It's not exactly news that the European Union (EU) as a bloc has been trying to crack down harder on plastic waste, with many companies banning plastic straws, cups and even bags unless they're able to be used time and time again. A group of Opuzen school kids are aware of just how damaging plastic waste is to the environment, taking an incredibly long time to break down, and have sought to protect their local river, the famous Neretva, from harm.
As Morski writes, on the occasion of the World Children's Day, an action of cleaning the Neretva river mouth of plastic waste was organised. More specifically, the action in which Opuzen school kids became young environmentalists took place in the Special Ornithological-Ichthyological Reserve.
The world is already so polluted with plastic that each of us eats at least five grams of plastic a week in our food which corresponds to the size of one whole bank card. The horror is all the greater if we know that we get all the plastic into the body through eating a very basic, regular diet.
This was the guiding thought of last week's action of cleaning up the Neretva river mouth, in which, in addition to the Regional Agency DUNEA, the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the Biom Association, local children from Opuzen which is situated along the river participated.
At the beginning of the action, a short educational presentation was held about the reserve located within the Neretva Valley and about the pollution of the sea with plastic and other harmful waste. After that, the participants put on their gloves and went into action. The praiseworthy efforts of these Opuzen school kids working to keep the Neretva river mouth safe and clean will more than likely be repeated soon.
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In it’ second edition this year, from July 1-3, Opuzen will become the focal point for art and artistic activities in an effort to revitalize the city.