Electric scooters are unfortunately an increasingly common sight underwater as well

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In Gdynia, a group of volunteer divers fished out electric scooters submerged near the Orlowo pier.

When we go diving, we expect great views and beautiful nature. Unfortunately, more and more often, in addition to everything we could expect underwater, we end up with more and more trash. Recently there has been a particular increase in the number of electric scooters, which evidently “provoke” the sinking of them, regardless of the country.

On Monday morning, January 16, divers from the Piórewicz Diving Technology Center in Gdynia, together with divers from the Zibel organization in Malta, carried out an operation to pull electric scooters from under the water.

Abandoning the increasingly popular city scooters in random places is the bane of many a city. Unfortunately, the beautiful seaside resorts are no exception. During a dive on Friday, January 13, a group of divers noticed that someone had deliberately “scrapped” 8 scooters under the pier in Gdynia Orlowo. Due to the impossibility of pulling them out immediately, the group decided to return and pull them all out on Monday.

Scooters brought to the surface

The whole action lasted about an hour and a half and required a lot of physical effort. As the divers said, someone certainly deliberately threw the disturbed scooters under the pier. The procedure was certainly a regular disposal stretched over time. This is evidenced by the fact that the 8 pieces found on Friday were joined by one more over the weekend.

A problem for many countries

Unreasonable and malicious throwing of electric scooters into the water unfortunately happens everywhere. Part of the cleanup group were divers from the Zibel organization in Malta, which is dedicated to cleaning up the underwater world on a daily basis. Unfortunately, encountering a scooter underwater is also a common sight in the Maltese Islands. To date, the group has already fished out dozens of such equipment.

Recently, even a video from city surveillance cameras has surfaced, documenting the sinking process. It shows an elderly man walking along a promenade in one of Malta’s towns, throwing the scooters he encounters into the sea.

Environmental impact

Electric scooters, or rather their unreasonable use, may annoy many people, but melting them is not the solution. All because this equipment is very dangerous to the environment. In addition to being mostly made of plastic, they also contain electronics and batteries that react with salt water and poison the environment. Throwing a scooter into the sea is by far the worst possible way to get rid of the problem.

Unfortunately, today’s action also showed how unprepared we are for the disposal of such waste. It took the divers more than an hour to call the right place and find an institution that deals with the disposal of this type of waste.

Photo: CTN Piórewicz

Professional diving is a topic that certainly interests many people. You can read about how to become a professional diver and find a job in Poland in the 18th issue the DIVERS24 quarterly magazine! Digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can purchase in our online shop.