Fifteen tonnes of waste was dragged out of the sea near Vis Island as part of the Think Green drive to clean the sea bed, including bicycles, truck tyres, car batteries and even military equipment, organisers said on Tuesday.

The drive was organised by the “Roniti se mora” diving club from Zagreb in partnership with the Environment Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, National Geographic Croatia and the CIOS Group.

Think Green involved 60 divers who cleaned debris from the sea bed over a period of three days at the ferry port, along the waterfront and in Stonac inlet on Vis Island.

“The biggest pieces of waste were a metal ship construction, the remnants of sewage pipes, a plastic boat, bicycles and truck tyres. The majority of the debris included old car batteries and construction waste while there was much less small plastic waste,” the divers said.

Some military equipmtent was also recovered from sea, including an Italian short rifle, ammunition and some knives. That material has been handed over for desalinisation.

The divers spent more than six hundred hours under water altogether and apart from collecting debris from the sea bed, about six tonnes of waste tyres and household appliances were collected on land as well as about 1,000 litres of waste oil.

All the waste collected during the drive will be removed from the island, separated and adequately disposed of while the value of the waste material sold will be donated to the SOS Children’s Village.