There was an interesting article in the Ideal newspaper by Rebeca Alcántara on the amount of microplastic particles in the water off Playa Azucenas in Motril.
According to Spring 2018 figures there were 206 particles per sq/m (one litre), almost invisible to the eye, as they are less than a millimetre in size.
It’s not that Motril beaches are particularly bad as the national average is 287. The higher densities in Andalucia, for example, can be found in Cabo de Gato where it’s 1,972.
It is, however, the third highest of the eleven beaches analysed for the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica by the Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (Cedex).
According to Rebeca’s article, the Head of the Biology Department at the Univesity of Cádiz, Prof. Andrés Cózar Cabañas, these figure are “medium high” but he also points out that there are many other beaches around Spain’s coastline where it is much higher.
These figures have to be scrutinised by the Ministry in order to elaborate a clear picture of the environment impact, because densisties even on the same beach vary according to currents; whether they’re from deeper in the Med or from the Atlantic, so you can’t say that a beach has an exact particle density.
As for their origin, well, they can come from larger pieces of plastic breaking down in the sea or, even coming off synthetic clothing when they are washed, ending up in domestic waste water and eventually the sea.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)