For generations, Lefteris Arapakis's family has fished the crystalline waters near Athens, but in recent decades, their nets have been pulling up more than just fish. Plastic waste has invaded the Mediterranean.
It wasn't always this way, however. "In the 1970s there weren't any plastic bottles," Arapakis's father, Vangelis, told the Washington Post. "Bottled water didn't exist."
Since then, it has become a significant global problem. The younger Arapakis decided to take action, as the Post detailed. In 2016, he launched Enaleia, a nonprofit focused on cleaning up the sea and educating fishers. His goal? Convince the fishing industry to treat plastic as a catch.
The program, which has already signed up over half of Greece's large-scale fishing fleet, pays crews a small monthly fee for the plastic they collect. Arapakis then recycles the waste, turning old bottles into furniture and fishing nets into trendy clothing.
Why is this mission so critical? The Mediterranean Sea is choking on plastic. One study found over eight million metric tons (about 8.8 million tons) of plastic likely enter the world's oceans each year, as the Post reported. In the Mediterranean, that waste gets trapped.
This plastic plague poses a double threat — to marine life and to us. Scientists warn that planet-overheating pollution, if unchecked, could lead to more extreme weather, rising sea levels, and food supply disruptions.
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Arapakis, however, is proving that individual actions can make a difference. He predicted that Enaleia would pull nearly 200 tons of plastic from the Mediterranean in one year. That's the equivalent of a football field stacked five feet high with plastic pieces, according to the Post.
The best part? Arapakis is empowering fishing communities to be part of the solution. As one participating volunteer told the Post, "You feel you're doing something, even if it's a little bit."
Experts agree that this is a step in the right direction. Kostas Tsiaras, a scientist studying plastic pollution, noted, "In a way, plastics are trapped inside the Mediterranean." Fishing them out is key.
Arapakis has his sights set on expansion. He's already replicated the program in parts of Italy and aims to bring it to other major Mediterranean plastic polluters.
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Through ingenuity and partnership, Arapakis is proving that solvable problems do have solutions — ones that work for both people and the planet. Now that's a reel win.
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