I am passionate about my project to mount my attractive, small , ceramic murals at the entrances of the beaches and bays along the coast of the island of Mallorca. They visually demonstrate the message to : Take your trash with you off the beach and place it in the trash cans ,
The spectacular island of Mallorca fills up in summer with tourists enjoying our beaches but leaving their garbage on the beach to be washed out to sea where it contaminates the waters and marine life surrounding the island. This diminishes the beauty and the allure of the island which ultimately will reduce the number of tourists visiting as well as the quality of life for the permanent residents like myself . I am a lover of the sea , a swimmer and diver thus it is painful for me to see so much garbage increasing yearly in the waters around Mallorca.
Some of Mallorca´s beaches have wooden or metal signs written in Spanish or Catalan with the message " Deposit your garbage in the trash can" . This message is not getting through to the masses who either don´t read them because they don´t attract their attention or because they don´t understand the language in which they are written . My hand-made, unique, ceramic murals are durable to sun , wind and rain. They attract attention because they are colorful and fun . Once people look at them they can see the message put forth and they will become more conscious of taking their garbage with them off the beach. As this is visually conveyed it is internationally understood.
There is growing awareness of the urgency to act sooner rather than later to protect the sea life and water surrounding Mallorca especially due to the recent approval of searching for petroleum nearby the Balearic islands . Adding to that awareness is the recent program tracking the re-emerging population of stingrays around Mallorca which reveals unprecedented garbage at the bottom of the sea.
According to information released by the Mallorcan government agency (Abaquea) in 2014…. "The Mallorcan government spent 513.333 euros ( an increase from last year of 122%) on 15 boats which extracted 27.910 kilos of solid , floating residue in July, August, and September with the objective of collecting solid , floating residue in the proximity of the the beaches and coves around Mallorca and with the goal of improving the look of the waters and beaches closest to the thousands of residents and tourists that during the summer months enjoy the sun and sand of the Balearic Islands . The service maintains the quality of the bathing waters , preventing the possible contamination of those waters."
Clearly we have a major problem with garbage contaminating the waters around Mallorca which will , in the long run , negatively effect the economy and livelihood of it´s residents if not taken seriously.
In 2014 alone Mallorca spent over a half a million Euros to collect garbage floating on the surface of the sea during only a three month period in summer , not to mention the expense of cleaning trash off the beaches. The garbage which has sunk to the bottom will contaminate sea life or eventually wash back up onto the shore .
Mallorca is now importing garbage from other European countries and anticipates the importation of 1.9 million tons in the next five years for processing in the incinerators of Son Reus.
Placing my attractive murals around the coast ,at the cost of 400 euros each, will have the effect of more people placing their garbage into the bins which will be collected and taken to the incinerators. This will reduce the cost of collecting that trash from the sea and the beaches. It will also fill up the garbage processing plant and thus eliminate the need for us to import garbage in order to fill the capacity of that facility.
To get my project started I would like to offer my murals to Mallorcan coastal municipalities for free with the assistance of CROWD-FUNDING LANZANOS. I propose to begin by making a dozen murals for a total of 4.800 Euros and I intend to monitor the effectiveness of the murals by controlling the amount of garbage collected . I will then propose to the government that they might mount more of my murals and thus reduce their present and increasing cost of over half a million Euros by collecting the trash in the garbage bins before it goes out to sea , not only contaminating water quality and endangering marine life but ultimately the economy and livelihood of Mallorca´s inhabitants .
I would appreciate your financial support to get this project started.