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Each year, tons of trash and plastic waste wash up on shores around the world. This garbage pollutes the oceans, harms marine life, and turns pristine beaches into dumping grounds. Beach cleanups are a great way to combat this growing threat for the environment. But do they really make an impact?
In this blog post, we'll explore what beach cleanups entail and the tangible and intangible benefits they provide. We'll also highlight how cleanups raise public awareness, provide educational opportunities, and encourage community involvement. You'll learn about the surprising items found via cleanups and how this "beachcombing" data helps scientists. We'll also address some common criticisms and questions about beach cleanups and their efficacy.
By the end, you'll understand why beach cleanups are an easy, fun and rewarding way for people of all ages to have a real and measurable impact on this pressing environmental problem. You'll learn why every piece of trash picked up matters. Let's dive in to the important role we can all play through beach cleanups to keep our waves, sand and shores clean for generations to come.
A beach cleanup is exactly what it sounds like - an organized effort by volunteers to pick up and remove trash from beaches. Beach cleanups may be focused on a specific stretch of shoreline, or involve covering a broad area. Some cleanups are small efforts organized by local community groups, while others are large-scale events that convene hundreds or even thousands of volunteers. International organizations like Ocean Conservancy sponsor and promote major annual beach cleanups around the world.
Participants in a beach cleanup usually meet at a designated location and time. Organizers often provide supplies like garbage bags, gloves and pickup tools. Volunteers then fan out to scour the beach and collect debris. Some cleanup events are more meticulous, having volunteers comb systematically through set sections. Others take a more casual approach, allowing volunteers to wander and pick up trash as they go.
Debris collected ranges from small items like cigarette butts, bottle caps and food wrappers to larger objects like abandoned fishing gear, plastic bottles, bags, cans, tires and more. Unusual finds like household appliances and old cars even turn up! Collected trash is sorted, weighed, and disposed of or recycled properly. Data on the types and amounts of garbage is recorded to help understand pollution patterns.
Beach cleanups help beautify beaches, preventing trash from washing out to sea or impacting wildlife. They also raise public awareness of the global marine pollution issue. Volunteers find beach cleanups rewarding, knowing their efforts contribute to environmental solutions.
With piles of trash removed from beaches each year by volunteers, it’s clear cleanups make a visible impact. But some may wonder whether these efforts really help since trash keeps washing ashore. However, research shows cleanups do actually make a significant difference.
According to the Ocean Conservancy, over 348 million pounds of trash has been collected over the past 35 years. That's a staggering amount that would otherwise still be polluting beaches and oceans. Studies have quantified the volume of debris removed by cleanups at specific sites and extrapolated the larger impact. For example, a 2021 study by researchers at Norce Norwegian Research Centre estimated that between 4,000 and 12,000 tons of trash is removed globally by cleanups every year.
In addition to removing existing trash, cleanups help prevent debris from breaking down further and spreading back into the marine environment. Research has shown that environmental conditions can quickly degrade plastic bags, bottles and other rubbish discarded on beaches. So keeping shorelines free of litter stops this process. Cleanups also raise awareness of the scale of pollution, encouraging better consumer habits that reduce waste overall.
While a single cleanup may seem like a drop in the bucket, the cumulative effect of sustained efforts across countries and years is undeniable. The fact that trash keeps coming is precisely why cleanups must continue. Like tackling any big issue, real change happens through many small actions added together. Beach cleanups are a simple way we can all contribute to this vital effort.
Care for the local environment is at the core of all our business operations at Scuba Junkie. We hold ourselves to high responsible tourism and eco-tourism standards, striving to reduce our own adverse impacts on the marine environment. We implement eco-friendly practices and technologies to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Scuba Junkie’s Mabul Beach Resort has featured on the Top Ten list since joining Green Fins in 2014, a feat made very difficult given the size of the dive operation.
We work together with S.E.A.S., holding weekly clean-ups to remove rubbish from the beaches, forests, and reefs surrounding our resort. We frequently collaborate on these cleanup efforts with local community members, grassroots organizations, NGOs, and other dive operators.
Together, we gather as many people as possible for clean-ups to make a bigger positive impact. By partnering with local stakeholders, we can raise awareness about environmental issues, take direct action through regular clean-ups, and promote sustainability in the region. Our shared commitment helps preserve the natural beauty and diversity that draws visitors to our resorts.
In addition to beach cleanups, Scuba Junkie takes action below the surface to protect the marine environment. Our dive team frequently conducts underwater reef cleanups to remove trash and debris that has sunk to the seafloor. On these dives, our instructors and divemasters comb through coral reefs collecting discarded fishing nets, anchors, bottles, plastic bags and other rubbish. These items can smother and break fragile corals, as well as entrap and endanger marine life.
Visiting Mabul Beach Resort provides a rewarding opportunity to directly participate in conservation. When staying with us, you can join one of our weekly beach cleanups (every Saturday afternoon) to help remove and properly dispose of plastic litter and other trash along Mabul's coastline. Witnessing first-hand the volume of waste collected will deepen your understanding of this environmental threat. You'll gain satisfaction from actively contributing to the solution.
You can also minimize your own plastic waste. Making conscientious choices while traveling - refusing disposable plastics, recycling properly, and being mindful of your consumption - helps sustain the natural habitats and wildlife you came to experience. Your visit supports organizations working hard to protect this destination.
Back in your local community, many options exist to continue the effort. Joining local beach or river cleanups is an uplifting way to spend a few hours giving back. At home, pledging to cut back on single-use plastics makes a real difference multiplied by entire communities. Support campaigns to ban harmful materials or advocate for industry responsibility programs. Use your voice on social media to spread sustainability tips and spotlight environmental challenges.
What may seem like a small effort can have a huge impact when multiplied by people worldwide. Beach cleanups actively remove tonnes of harmful debris, prevent further environmental harm, raise public awareness, and provide data to inspire change. By participating in cleanups at home or on your next vacation, you can help stem the tide of plastic pollution threatening our oceans. The positive impact is real. Beach cleanups matter.
