Traveler shares alarming experience after swimming at popular beach vacation spot: 'I could barely even see under water'

A tourist posted a troubling video showing an unbelievable amount of plastic at what should be a picturesque beach spot.

A TikToker, Amby (@ambymathur), shared a disappointing sight in one of her posts. She explained how her idyllic seaside day and swim in Naples, Italy, turned into a plastic nightmare. She stated: "It is so full of plastic that I could barely even see underwater."

@ambymathur Guys, we can do better than this!Ragazzi possiamo fare meglio di così! #ambyadventures #naplesitaly #plasticsea #plasticocean #surfrider ♬ original sound - Amby | Luxury & La Dolce Vita

Sadly, Amby's unpleasant discovery is not an isolated incident. According to Plastic Oceans, 10 million tons of plastic enter our oceans every single year. A distressing side effect of this is the death of over 1 million marine animals. Plastic pollution is a serious issue, harming animals, humans, and the planet.

In the clip, Amby points out that all the plastic she found was single-use plastic. She encourages her followers to "think twice before using single-use plastics." And she couldn't be more right.

Plastic Oceans said that of all plastic produced (380 million tons annually), 50% is for single-use purposes. These items are used for minutes — maybe even seconds — and then discarded. But they stay on the planet for centuries.

Amby also asks her followers to dispose of single-use plastics correctly if they must use them. Unfortunately, less than 10% of all plastic is recycled. This low number is due to difficulty sorting, unrecyclable materials, contamination, and other complications, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

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The best way to lessen plastic pollution is to lessen plastic use, especially single-use plastics. You can choose plastic-free options, avoid plastic-heavy products, and adopt other habits to use less plastic.

Knowing what to recycle and how to recycle is the key to fighting plastic pollution. But as Amby says in her video, you can also "pick up some trash the next you're at a beach"; that applies to being in a park or on a hike. Many already work to make a difference, like those who participated in the 2024 Global Ocean Cleanup. This project removed 78,744 pounds of trash from the ocean.

Commenters on Amby's post were understandably upset by the scene. One lamented, "So sad!" Another struggled to understand why this happens and commented: "It always amazes me how people just leave their trash at the beach. Is it really that hard to throw away trash?"