Along the Po river there is a predominance of plastic waste measuring less than 10 centimeters in length, but the quantity of plastic reaching the Adriatic Sea is estimated at just under 15% of the total quantified further upstream. This is a summary of the data illustrated in Ferrara on the occasion of the presentation of the results of Mapp (Monitoring Applied to Plastics of the Po), a project promoted by the Po River District Authority and the Foundation for Sustainable Development, in the two-year period 2021 - 2023. The monitoring allowed the identification of potential areas of accumulation of plastics.
The observations took place, on a seasonal basis, in five locations spread over the entire stretch - Verolengo (To), Isola Serafini (Pc), Boretto (Re), Pontelagoscuro (Fe), PortoTolle (Ro) - and in the floodplain areas surrounding the monitored traits. The results obtained showed that plastic waste smaller than 10 cm prevails, belonging to the first three size classes (i.e.: less than 2.5 cm; between 2.5 and 5 cm; between 5 and 10 cm).
For Alessandro Bratti, General Secretary of the Po River District Authority, "the outcomes of the Mapp project formed the basis for the design of the 2024-2026 three-year experimental program for the recovery of plastics in the Po River, which will be implemented with the funding available from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Safety through the SalvaMare Law".
"From the data collected with the visual census it seems that the total quantity of plastic litter transported by the Po is significantly lower than that attributed in the past by modeling estimates - underlines Giuseppe Dodaro, Head of the Natural Capital and Agroecology Area of the Foundation for Sustainable Development -. The prevailing observation of objects of small dimensions suggests that the waste undergoes intense fragmentation processes before reaching the sea".