One of our favourite things here in The Cantabrian Eco-Apartments is to find environmental focused projects near us. One of this projects is Plasticfreecantábrico, a movement born to create awareness about plastic in our oceans and which encourages to clean the beach every time we visit it. Do you want to know more? Read our interview with them!
Interview with Plasticfreecantábrico
Interview with Plasticfreecantábrico
Who are you?
Plasticfreecantábrico was founded by Deva Prendes, manager of the diving Center Speedywater in Candás. Daniel Tejerina takes charge of the image and collaborates with social media. Erasmo S. Sánchez, photographer of Speedywater, give us the majority of underwater images. But the idea of this initiative is to have everyone who wants to join in, even if they do it by only sharing our message.
How was Plasticfreecantábrico born?
We have been working in the sea for years and we have noticed how, little by little, our sea bottom are changing… Where there were just algae and lots of life, now you find microplastics, ghost nets… human waste in general. To see a spider-crab with a plastic in its shell or an algae field full of mini pieces of plastic is extremely sad for the people who enjoy submarine life.
There is more and more people conscious about this problem and who are acting. But the vast majority only see it when they arrive to the shore and they don’t really know the state of our sea. Open water is not accesible for everyone and we, as divers, have the mission to collaborate by picking up the trash we find, so we can contribute.
This initiative was born to create awareness and to conserve sea bottoms in the Cantabrian Sea. And it’s not that we only want to take care of our own sea, but it’s the closest one and te one in which we can make a difference in a real and direct way.
Which is the plastic object you find most in the sea?
You see everything, but the objects we find the most are plastic bags, personal hygiene products and microplastics, both in the bottom and on the surface.
There are less harmful alternatives for the environment?
Of course! We are sure about it. The human being is intelligent and we can find alternatives for everything. The problem is we are in the middle of a capitalism system in wich objectives are above logic and health. Many times the problem is not to find a better and more sustainable alternative but the economic interest behind taking those alternatives.
But in my opinion we all can win. We simply hay to work under the same objective, which, right now, is try to stop the deterioration of our planet. We don0t know if this situation would have a solution but we do know we can improve our situation right now. 45 years ago we didn’t have plastic bottles and we knew how to live without them. We simply have to switch habits and be conscious, because what we do in our homes, day by day, affects us all.
What needs to be done to have plastic free oceans someday?
No doubt we have to reduce our plastic consumption and erase completely non reusable plastic. Also, start to reuse again, because we know, or knew! how to do it. We just have to remember how. Our granparents did and if you don’t know how to do it you can always ask, there is a lot of information in social media about it.
What is your main objective?
Our objective is, apart from making images of this reality public to people who aren’t in contact with open waters, to clean this trash we find in our diving routes, surf and snorkel sessions, bathr in the beach. And by doing so, helping our sea breath and preventing our fauna and flora to be affected by this human waste.
We live in a digital era and we want to make the most of social media power to create a healthy movement which really contributes to our planet and creates awareness. We are aware we are small, but we always believed that individual change is the most important, as if I change I will lead witSomos conscientes que somos pequeñitos, pero siempre hemos creído que el cambio individual es el más importante porque si yo cambio h the example to my nearest circle, and they will extend it too until my circle becomes the whole world.
The other day a friend told me “Deva, I was in the beach picking up plastic trash, you are mi Jiminy Cricket”, just hearing it made me feel like it was worth.
How can we collaborate?
It’s very simple, you can take a pic or video of the trash you find and share it in Instagram with thehashtag #plasticfreecantabrico or in our Facebook
What do you think about Plasticfreecantábrico?
In The Cantabrian we already joined! And also, in order to prevent more plastic to reach our seas, we work from a zero waste perspective, trying to generate as less waste as possible:
· Using cleaning tools made from natural materials
· Leaving you biodegradable hygiene and cleaning products
· Buying our daily use and cleaning stock on bulk
· Leaving you reusable bags and containers in order to avoid plastic bags
Looking for a sustainable holiday home?
Take a look at The Cantabrian eco-apartments, three sustainable vacation houses equipped with parking and private garden just 7km from San Vicente de la Barquera, Cantabria in Spain.
We speak english! So do not hesitate in contact us and request for information 
ECO, SLOW, CANTABRIAN
