Masses of toxic litter pours from Rhine into North Sea each year, research finds
Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of ‘macrolitter’ annually
I dunno. Perhaps we can work it out?
The Rhine River has an average discharge (volume flow) of about 2,900 cubic meters per second (m³/s),
OK, a m3 is a tonne in weight. So the solids discharge in a year is 1x, or perhaps 1.5x, the water flow in a second. There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year therefore the solids are 1/31,536,000 of the total flow. Or, 0.00003%.
Is that a lot?
Yeah but it isn’t the Rhine really is it ? It’s a big old delta with lots of ports on it including Rotterdam.
It is why Clogland is so damp.
Being a jolly large river it also has a lot of human habitation strung along it.
In contrary that figure sounds like a massive under estimate.
It’s actually a grossly exaggerated overestimate. Most of the stuff they “caught” with that trap never makes it to the sea, or even a couple of miles…
If that stuff makes it allllll the way down past the dutch delta and actually makes it to the North Sea, it’d settle in the Waddenzee, because Physics and why that particular environment is actually there..
There’s a marked lack of tons of german trash ( other than Tourists ) in that area…
Or alternatively, given that I live right up against the Biesbosch, which similar to the Waddenzee makes an *excellent* trash trap…. Again…Because Physics…
Ummmmnope… distinct lack of heaps of trash.
The number quoted is Spudonomics: Use one “chosen” spot for measurements, multiply what you find by maximum debit, ignore everything else, and start Shouting.
The fact that the term “citizen scientists” is used should tell anyone enough about the ….rigorousness… of this “research”.
most of what the caught in the trap was plastic, and we know that wont make it to the sea because the turtles will eat it all first.
Michael Gove ruined one of my innocent pleasures. No more going out and strangling turtles with plastic straws for me 🙁
So a quarter of the amount dumped at that illegal site in Kidlington within the space of a few months, those Germans are real amateurs.
I used to have a German research student who thought I was teasing him when I said that I’d swum in the Rhine half-a-dozen times.
Do you think I could blame my health on that and sue the Bundesrepublik?
I’d say you easily could have swum in the Rhine. In select spots…
In other spots… any risk of long-term health damage would be overshadowed by the very short-term health risks, if they find your corpse at all, downstream, somewhere..
That’s because of all those crocodiles flushed down people’s loos.
Tim, how many times have I told you not to stop a nice Greenie rant by using facts? If they could read anything not in the Greenie Bible they’d get really upset. And you know that’s already illegal in the UK and probably in the EU as well…
Well, no, of course not. But the average person thinks 4700 tonnes and thinks “shit” and has no idea about the numbers we’re working with.
Guardian, with herds of professional journalists, doesn’t know what ‘toxic’ means.
Their use is commie speak for “bad.”
Wonder if that includes fallen trees?
“They said more research was needed to understand the full extent of the problem.”
As ever, follow the plea for subsidy money!
As an aside, the Rhine was so polluted during Roman times that they had to build an aqueduct from the Eifel to supply fresh water to Cologne. 95km in a hilly terrain, that’s proper engineering.
I’ve been to the source as well, it starts as a tiny stream.
Rather late to this subject. But I looked at the Guardian article out of boredom after reading the comments. Came across this in the first few lines.
tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations.
Have none of these people any real world experience? The biggest enemies of vehicle tyres after wear are heat, oxygen & above all sunlight. You leave a car for too long where it’s subject to strong sunlight it will completely fuck the tyres. Sidewalls get full of cracks & the rubber starts turning to powder. You want to preserve a car tyre chuck it a river. It’ll last for ever. It’s one of the basic principals of the use of vulcanised rubber in car tyres. Water resistance; So the zinc & other heavy metals (not saying zinc is a heavy metal) are not going to get into water through tyres thrown in the river. Through the dust of abrasion whilst being used on the roads, maybe. Clue. What do they use as fenders for boats? Old car tyres. Even salt water doesn’t bother them.