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THE red and yellow boats belonging to the Ministry for the Environment have collected all sorts of weird and wonderful rubbish in the past month, although the sea rubbish collection figures are less than last year. In total the Ministry for Environment has collected 43'853 kilogrammes of rubbish from the sea and beaches in the Balearic Islands throughout June. This total is 30.6 percent less than the amount which was collected in the same month last year. At a recent press conference the Minister for the Environment, Jaume Font, explained that 32 percent of June's rubbish was actually wood products, 28 percent plastic, 15 percent organic materials, 10 percent of seaweed, 1 percent of oils and 14 percent of miscellaneous products. In the latter category the boats have managed to collect motorbikes, bicycles, shopping trolleys, pushchairs and even a dead cow.
Furthermore, the government boats have picked up two huge tree trunks, which would cause great dangers to the many boats out sailing. They have also rescued a seriously injured turtle, which was hurt by a fish hook. The turtle was taken to Marineland and underwent a successful operation. The small boats also towed back four boats which were found to be in difficulty. The Minister for the Environment said at the press conference that the 40 boats travel up and down the coastlines and beaches of the four islands, with the objective of collecting rubbish from the sea. There are seventeen boats in Majorca, 8 in Minorca, 6 in Ibiza and 3 in Formentera working daily.