The endless number of discarded life vests and deflated dinghies littering the eastern coast of Lesvos speaks volumes of the immensity of the refugees crisis. Considering the numbers of refugees arrived this year, around 400.000 life vests and 8.000 inflatable inflatable dinghies must have been discarded on the islands' shores so far.
There is a joint effort of volunteers and local residents, trying to clean up, but with arrivals of thousands of peoples a day, it us hard to keep up. Upon arrival, the dinghies are stabbed with knives (often to an applause) to make it impossible to be taken to Turkey and re-used by smugglers. The engines are taken to a specific place to be auctioned off later on or, when that does not happen, taken illegally to be sold on the black market.
What does this massive pollution of plastic mean for the ecosystem and environment of this beautiful greek island?
A recycling/repurposing project would be needed.