- 21 hours ago
Below the surface, collapsing fish farms turn nets and cages into deadly plastic traps. Divers reveal how risky and complex the cleanup really is.
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00:06Our seas and coastlines are heavily polluted, mainly with plastic waste.
00:12Up to 150 million tonnes already clog our oceans, with another 8 million tonnes added every year.
00:18Microplastics from tyres or textiles are everywhere now.
00:23Fish farms also burden coastal waters, not just while operating, but even more once they're abandoned.
00:35Also on Made This Week, the EU's plastics ban, why it's hardly having any effect, Bulgaria,
00:42how seniors support the healthcare system, and why new graduates can no longer find jobs.
01:00In this part of Greece, these giant rings are everywhere.
01:06There's not much to see on the surface, but many of them are hiding a secret right below.
01:11They've been rotting here for years, spreading plastic across the coastline and far into the ocean.
01:17And no one is talking about it.
01:20It's an environmental crime.
01:22How can you go to bed at the end of the day and you're responsible for all this?
01:28They're called ghost farms.
01:30And they're not only a Greek problem.
01:33Companies around the world are getting away with this.
01:36You can see what the damage is like coming out of 40 businesses,
01:40so you can imagine what is going to happen with the 400.
01:43Ghost farms like these are a growing part of the plastic waste that is filling oceans and seas everywhere.
01:50So getting rid of them is really important.
01:52The problem is that it's a long, messy, and dangerous process.
01:59This is Veronika Mikos.
02:01She invited us to join her and her team in Methana, a small town a few hours' drive from Athens.
02:06They're here to clean up a farm that's been here since 1993.
02:10At the first glance, it's tragic.
02:13You just don't know where to start.
02:15Everywhere you look, like, what to touch first?
02:19It used to produce Seabass and Seabrim.
02:22But from 2011, the company that ran it started running into licensing issues.
02:27The farm eventually shut down.
02:30But instead of removing it, the company just abandoned it instead.
02:35From above, these fish farms may look like they have little impact on their surroundings.
02:40But they're actually huge pieces of infrastructure.
02:43The ones being cleaned up here go 40 metres down.
02:46And because most of it is made of plastic,
02:49when they're abandoned, they begin to break down, causing massive problems.
02:53The nets start to tangle, trapping and killing wild fish,
02:57which then attract and trap other fish,
02:59creating a cycle that could last for decades.
03:02Over time, the round cages collapse or separate,
03:05and the buoys crack and release the styrofoam they're filled with into the surrounding waters.
03:10To fish, this plastic happens to look a lot like food.
03:15We went for a ride up the coastline to a beach five kilometres away.
03:21And along the way, we found styrofoam everywhere.
03:23How long would this have been here for?
03:26It's been here for ages.
03:28Years and years.
03:28Dassos Philippides runs a Greek NGO that finds ghost farms with satellite imagery.
03:33He also helps clean them up, which is why he's ready to go in a diving suit.
03:37Dassos says he's identified more than 130 possible abandoned locations
03:41in the areas he's reviewed,
03:42and confirmed at least 22 of them as ghost farms so far.
03:46And the original owners of most of them are known.
03:51This farm behind me is not lost.
03:53It's just abandoned.
03:54So there is an owner responsible for this.
03:56And the system around that owner, who is not holding the owner responsible.
04:00So it's an environmental crime.
04:04For now, Veronica says there's only one thing they can actually do about it.
04:09Start cleaning.
04:12The divers are the first line of attack.
04:15It's absolutely very dangerous.
04:17You need a special kind of person for that, who likes challenges.
04:21The moment you start pulling nets, the visibility is zero,
04:25and you still have to figure out the puzzle in the water, you know?
04:30The sunken equipment is often buried under a layer of dirt,
04:33and interwoven with marine life like fish and mollusks,
04:36creating an unpredictable maze.
04:40The divers gather all the nets into a pile.
04:45The ropes that keep the cages in place are disconnected from the seafloor.
04:50Then they attach balloons to bring everything to the surface in sections.
05:03Once it's all up, the last stage begins.
05:07The giant rings are slowly brought into this ship, the Typhoon,
05:11which specialises in removing marine waste.
05:14For now, this ghost farm that had been haunting Methaner's coastline is finally gone.
05:20But its legacy, the microplastics and debris that have already been carried far away
05:25by fish and ocean currents, will live on centuries longer than anyone here.
05:38The oceans aren't the only places suffering from plastic.
05:42On land, we're drowning in it too.
05:44Packaging makes up 40% of global plastic waste, the biggest share.
05:50The UN is working on global plastic agreements,
05:54but most recently failed to approve substantial measures.
05:58The EU, meanwhile, introduced a ban on certain single-use products back in 2021.
06:04But how effective has it really been?
06:06We take a closer look.
06:08Since 2021, throwaway plastic like this has been banned in the EU.
06:13In Germany, the ban has a very German name.
06:16Einweg Kunststoff Verbotsverordnung.
06:18But I still feel like I see it everywhere here in Berlin.
06:21Let's set the timer to one hour and collect as many single-use items as I can.
06:25Clock's ticking, let's go.
06:35Plastic straw for my mango fruit drink.
06:49Plastic cups for your various beverages.
06:52I've never been so excited about a plastic cup in my life.
06:55Oh, that's one hour.
06:58It's safe to say that I was pretty successful.
07:01So I just counted a little more than 20 items that I collected in one hour,
07:05so I found one plastic item every three minutes.
07:07That's insane.
07:09To me, this all looks like it would have been banned a while ago.
07:12So that would mean the ban isn't working.
07:14Am I right?
07:16To find out, I carried my plastic haul across Berlin to meet up with someone who knows the rules inside
07:22out.
07:23Okay, you ready?
07:24Ready.
07:30Your first reaction to all this plastic.
07:34That's really a lot of plastic.
07:36And at first glance, it looks to me like much of it should no longer be allowed.
07:41Fritter Schatz has spent a decade helping consumers eat sustainably and cut down on plastic.
07:45To find out the extent of the problem, we sorted everything into three piles.
07:52This is banned, that's unclear, and that's still allowed.
07:56I'm smiling here, but I didn't get it.
07:58It's all single-use plastic, no?
08:01They started with the worst first.
08:04What could we first do away with that's really superfluous?
08:09The EU investigated what kind of trash is out there and found that roughly 40% of litter is single
08:14-use plastic.
08:15So they figured banning that would fix most of the problem.
08:18But clearly, it hasn't worked so well.
08:21If there's a law, it needs to be enforced, otherwise no one will abide by it.
08:26In theory, the law is enforced through fines.
08:28The local kebab shop could be fined up to 100,000 euros for giving you a plastic fork.
08:33Sounds steep.
08:34But it's like speeding.
08:36If no one fined you for breaking the speed limit, no one would stick to it.
08:40So are these fines ever actually enforced?
08:44I contacted the five biggest gem in cities to ask if they had fined anyone.
08:48Most said they only get active if they hear of any violations,
08:51or they carry out random checks, if at all.
08:54But not a single one could point to any example of fines.
08:58So what about the unclear stuff in this other pile?
09:01Didn't the EU ban plastic cutlery?
09:03These forks look the same.
09:05They're both made of plastic.
09:07But here you can see the manufacturer's trick.
09:09It says reusable.
09:12Well, technically, you can hardly see it.
09:14But this tiny word and the fact that the fork is a little thicker means it can stay in circulation.
09:19In other words, a loophole.
09:21Or a deliberate circumvention of the law, Britta said.
09:24Because there's another problem.
09:26Reuse-able does not mean reused.
09:31Natalie Gontard is a leading researcher on plastic pollution and has won several awards for her work.
09:36She says these reusable items can even do more harm than good, since the way we use them hasn't changed
09:41at all.
09:41I mean, if you got this fork at your local kebab shop, would you use it more than once?
09:46In some areas, we have been able to increase the consumption of plastic by banning single-use plastic.
09:54Because the law can be easily circumvented by just increasing the sickness.
10:00And she has proof that a lot of companies are doing just that.
10:03Many companies have contacted me when these bans were in preparation.
10:09They were a little bit panicked.
10:12And at the end, they come back to me, very sorry, really.
10:16We don't need your help anymore because it's very simple.
10:20We just increased the sickness.
10:23And at the end, they are working as usual.
10:25Where is the progress here?
10:27Where is the interest?
10:29Where is the benefit?
10:31And there is another hiccup.
10:32Unlike glass or metal, plastic isn't really made to be reused.
10:36The more we use and wash it, the more it absorbs aroma, colorants and microbes.
10:40So even if a fork is labeled reusable, it's mostly not reused and shouldn't be.
10:46But that doesn't mean that things haven't changed at all.
10:48You've probably seen a lot of the new alternatives out there.
10:51Cotton tote bags, wooden cutlery or paper cups.
10:54They look eco-friendly.
10:55But are they really?
10:57To find out, scientists in Denmark looked at the environmental impacts a carrier bag creates,
11:01like carbon footprint, toxicity and resource use.
11:04A paper bag would need to be reused 43 times to be as good as a plastic one.
11:09And cotton, 7,100 times.
11:12So is plastic the right way to go after all?
11:14The main danger of plastic is not taken into account in the assessment.
11:19Because the key danger of plastic, this is not about carbon emission, carbon footprint.
11:26This is about the emission of micro and nanoplastic that we can find then in our lung, in our brain,
11:36in our blood.
11:37So while paper and cotton have their own cost, plastic has a hidden one.
11:42It sticks around for several hundreds of years.
11:45So is there a smarter way of going about this?
11:51In Kenya, it has been illegal to use, manufacture or import plastic bags since 2017.
11:57Has that been effective?
11:59I asked an expert.
12:01Initially, plastics were all over, not only in the damsides, along the roads, some blown by wind on trees, everywhere.
12:11Evans Nangulu manages his own company, helping businesses and community groups tackle environmental challenges.
12:18But with the ban, the streets are clean, the roads are clean, the cities are clean.
12:25Evans says at the beginning, the ban completely stopped plastic production and massively reduced the amount of plastic in circulation.
12:32Those caught manufacturing or using plastic bags face up to four years in jail or risk a fine of up
12:38to 31,000 US dollars.
12:40And unlike Germany, it's not just an empty threat.
12:43But now there's a different problem.
12:46The cross-border movement of plastic bags, the prohibited one, they're still finding their ways to Kenya.
12:52In Uganda, industries are still allowed to produce single-use packaging products.
13:01They're still finding its way to Rwanda and to Kenya.
13:05So these governments need to come together.
13:09Jimena Banegas looks at international environmental law.
13:12We currently have 120 countries that have different forms of plastic bans.
13:19And we're all kind of playing whack-a-mole, right?
13:22Like banning this product here, but not banning it there, leaving it optional for certain countries to ban,
13:29while you still have that product being produced somewhere else.
13:33In August 2025, the UN tried to fix this.
13:37Delegates from around the world met in their fifth session to discuss standardizing the rules for everyone.
13:42Spoiler alert, they couldn't do it.
13:44Well, the main conflict is that some countries just want to tackle the waste issue and want a treaty that
13:53only looks at waste and remain at the national level.
13:57And some countries want to be more ambitious and they want to go for binding global bans, restrictions on harmful
14:05products,
14:06restrictions on certain chemicals that are in plastics and also have a production cap.
14:13That last one, capping global production, was the biggest sticking point for many countries.
14:18Bans are essential, but we just can't pretend that bans are the solution.
14:25It's not tackling the more than 400 million tons of plastics that are being put into the market.
14:33With a cap, perhaps we wouldn't be replacing thinner forks with thicker ones and calling it a day.
14:38But evidently, plastic is still very much in demand, so it's a catch-22 kind of situation.
14:45Bans can work, if they're enforced, clearly communicated, internationally synced and designed to avoid loopholes.
14:52And if they're backed by long-term political will.
14:59The introduction of the Euro is commemorated as a historic milestone in the European Union meant to boost stability and
15:07integration.
15:09Following Latvia, Lithuania and Croatia, Bulgaria introduced the Euro on January 1st, 2026.
15:17But while government and business leaders are celebrating, many ordinary citizens remain sceptical.
15:25Patiently waiting to exchange Lev for Euros at Bulgaria's national bank in Sofia.
15:30Bulgaria is a country in the midst of political upheaval, but its adoption of the Euro at the start of
15:352026 has gone smoothly.
15:37Within the first month, 75% of the cash in Bulgarian Lev, or Lion, has already been replaced.
15:44Krassen Dimitrov founded Volterra, the startup producing heat pumps, a year ago.
15:49He hopes the Euro will increase investor confidence in the country.
15:53In 2026, we will go to the market to raise additional financing.
15:58And hopefully, we will get a better reception because of the Euro adoption.
16:03Volterra receives funding from the European Union.
16:06Being part of the Eurozone has lifted a burden on the team.
16:10Before that, all our expenses and accounting was done in levels.
16:15So we had to go through conversions.
16:18And this takes away from my time.
16:21According to the European Central Bank, small and medium-sized companies in Bulgaria could save around 500 million euros in
16:27exchange fees.
16:28But in the EU's poorest country, not everyone is optimistic.
16:32Half of all Bulgarians were against the switch, according to Eurobarometer polling from 2025.
16:39The Lev is better.
16:40Doesn't matter what people say.
16:42The Lev is better.
16:43Even the customers say the Lev is better.
16:47Bulgaria is facing its eighth parliamentary election in just five years.
16:51And far-right politicians have been stirring up anti-Euro fears on social media as part of their campaign,
16:57calling for a referendum on the return of the Lev.
16:59In addition, worries that the adoption of the Euro would drive up prices has fueled skepticism.
17:06Everything is getting more expensive.
17:10Everything.
17:11Starting with the bread, the meat, the electricity.
17:16But according to the latest data, prices are rising more slowly than before.
17:21In January, inflation was at 3.6%, the lowest figure in nine months.
17:27Inflation in January is lower in January 26th, is lower than inflation in January 25th.
17:33I think that's a very simple way to put it.
17:35For now, vendors are still required to show prices in both currencies to prove their conversion rates are fair.
17:41But starting in August, the Euro will be the only currency on these price tags.
17:50The Euro isn't the only issue with EU membership.
17:54More and more doctors are leaving Eastern Europe for the West.
17:58And Bulgaria is hit particularly hard.
18:02An underfunded healthcare system, poor working conditions and low pay drive many well-trained doctors and nurses abroad.
18:09That means older staff often have to stay on the job longer.
18:16At almost 90 years old, Dr. Milka Bogueva is still a full-time doctor.
18:21There's no one else who can do it.
18:23This hospital in a remote town in Bulgaria is so short on staff, Milka is still working weekdays and weekends
18:30at 87.
18:32Almost all of her colleagues are also past retirement age.
18:37Maybe it's my genes.
18:39I don't know what it is.
18:42I'm happy that at this age, I can handle anything.
18:49The senior doctors working here are no exception.
18:52In Bulgaria, a third of all doctors are above retirement age.
18:57Without them, the system would collapse.
19:00Bulgaria is one of the fastest aging countries in the world.
19:03Demand for medical care is growing.
19:06But its government spends much less on healthcare than the European Union average.
19:10It has the lowest minimum wage in the EU.
19:13Doctors here are paid as little as a thousand euros a month.
19:17The head of the hospital, Stefan Nikolov, who is also past retirement age,
19:21is having a hard time recruiting newcomers.
19:24With the edge of the knife.
19:26I can't take the young doctor here with a thousand euros salary.
19:32Nobody came.
19:34But while hospitals in remote areas are struggling to find enough doctors to function,
19:39the lecture halls at Bulgarian medical universities are packed.
19:43Bulgaria has twice as many medical graduates as the EU average.
19:47The problem?
19:48Many of these students end up working abroad for more money.
19:52Which country do you see your future in as a young doctor?
19:57Mainly Germany and Switzerland.
19:59There's currently a fairly large percentage of Bulgarian doctors in Germany.
20:03Last year, Chiara Dimitrova helped organize a countrywide protest.
20:07Doctors and nurses asked for better pay and working conditions under the slogan,
20:12Do we have a future in Bulgaria?
20:14The demonstrations helped secure promises for pay raises from the center-right government.
20:19But the plans were put on hold.
20:22And at the end of 2025, mass anti-corruption protests forced the government to resign,
20:28putting doctors and nurses around the country in limbo.
20:33Young doctors in Bulgaria are put in a situation where they have to endure years of slavery
20:38before they can finally practice their profession and earn money.
20:44Back in Dubnica, Milka is hopeful the future is more promising for young doctors in Bulgaria.
20:51They want better conditions.
20:53They want to stay here.
20:55The ones who are already abroad, if there are good conditions, many will come back.
21:03There's no other way.
21:05It needs to be resolved.
21:07Bulgarians are electing a new parliament in April,
21:10the same month Milka plans on finally retiring.
21:18Germany, too, is struggling in the labor market.
21:21College degrees in maths, biology, chemistry or engineering
21:25no longer mean an easy path to employment.
21:29The economy is in crisis, hiring has slowed to a trickle
21:33and many people lack the new digital skills now required.
21:37Does attending university come with a job guarantee?
21:42Studying chemistry, biology, engineering or IT
21:46used to mean having a job practically guaranteed after university.
21:50But in Germany, that's no longer the case.
21:53Skilled workers are still in urgent demand,
21:56but employers are hesitating to hire young people.
21:59Graduates are finding it increasingly hard to find a job.
22:03Unemployment in that group has risen over the past year,
22:06making it harder for many to get their careers going.
22:12It does seem like a contradiction.
22:14But the fact is that graduates often have qualifications
22:18that don't match what the labor market is currently looking for.
22:24The unemployment rate among young graduates in Germany
22:27has increased by around one-third compared with 2022.
22:35But that figure is still very low, relatively speaking.
22:39A recent study by the online platform Stepstone
22:42shows that in 2025, the number of job postings for young graduates
22:46was only about half the average figure over the previous five years.
22:53The fact that graduates are struggling to enter the job market
22:57is mainly due to the economic cycle.
23:01And we've been seeing the economy gradually cool down since 2019.
23:07When order books become unpredictable,
23:10the first reaction tends to be a freeze on hiring.
23:13At the same time, many companies continue to report
23:15a shortage of skilled workers, although not everywhere.
23:18In the automotive and chemical sectors,
23:21jobs are actually being cut right now.
23:25We're now seeing disproportionately high unemployment
23:28among young graduates, even in the natural sciences.
23:33And that's where the jobless rate is highest, around 10%.
23:37The labor market is undergoing structural changes,
23:40and too quickly for many degree programs.
23:43Curricula have an insufficient focus on digital workflows,
23:46automation, and artificial intelligence.
23:49When we look at classic programming jobs,
23:52generative AI is increasingly taking over.
23:58AI isn't the cause of the slowdown we're seeing in many professions.
24:03It's the amplifier.
24:05Traditional entry-level jobs are disappearing,
24:08which means that job requirements are changing too.
24:12What does machine programming now involve?
24:15How can I use software code to develop a new product?
24:19These are the kinds of skills that machines can't easily do,
24:22meaning better job prospects for graduates.
24:26But hiring too few young people could prove to be a mistake in the very near future.
24:31At latest, when the boomer generation retires.
24:34Then the demand for qualified workers will rise again.
24:40And there are steps that graduates themselves can take to improve their job prospects.
24:48If you're a bit flexible and are perhaps willing to move or begin with an internship,
24:54then your prospects aren't so bad.
24:5720 years ago, for example, when unemployment was far higher,
25:00it was all far more difficult.
25:09Research shows that young graduates entering a weak labor market adapt fairly quickly.
25:19And after four or five years,
25:21they're at the same level as people who entered the market during a strong phase.
25:27You've got a degree but no job?
25:30Yes, unemployment has risen.
25:32But the German economy is slowly recovering,
25:35and that should also improve the employment outlook for young graduates.
25:42And that's it for another edition of MADE.
25:46We showed how hard it is to clean up ghost farms,
25:49why the EU's plastic ban has had such little impact,
25:54how sceptical many Bulgarians are about the euro,
25:59and why so many doctors there have to keep working.
26:02See you next time.
26:04Take care.
26:06See you next time.
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26:11See you next time.
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