More than one million people have been participating in a worldwide coastal cleanup on September 19th to help keep our oceans and waterways free of trash. Aruba was happily ready to help make our beaches clean with the support of many hotels, organizations and the Dutch marines.
Aruba collectively collected more than 1.7 tons (1520 kg) of trash during the International Coastal Cleanup Day Aruba. A lot of participants deposited their collected trash at a central drop-off and many disposed of the trash in their own trash bins making the estimated amount of collected trash much higher. Most of the trash was plastic and it for sure made a difference to get this out of nature, out of the ocean. Every year thousands of tons of garbage winds up in the oceans, with 60% of that being composed of plastic material. Plastics especially last a very long time in the ocean and are in such abundance that there are 46,000 individual pieces of plastic litter for every square mile of ocean. Plastics are very hazardous to marine life, killing more than a million birds and over 100,000 seals, turtles, and whales, and an immense number of fishes in our ocean. Coastal Cleanup Day encourages us to get out to our beaches and help to limit this problem by cleaning up the garbage that has washed up on shore, and that left by visitors every day.
Participants
Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba is active in the field of sustainability and keeping the island clean. The resort organizes monthly beach clean-ups. In connection with Great Global Clean-up day during the weekend, associates, volunteers, and resort guests joined and did a wonderful job.
The Dutch marines who are stationed in Savaneta also participated in the coastal clean-up with about 130 people. They were ‘sweeping’ from the dog cemetery to Father Piet early morning with the end result of a truck filled with litter.
Many more have joined this event which resulted in having a cleaner Aruba and a healthier ocean. Let us keep it this way!
History of Coastal Cleanup Day
Coastal Cleanup Day was established by the Ocean Conservancy, an organization that work to help protect the ocean from the challenges it faces every year.
They serve as a voice for the ocean, speaking of the issues that aren’t often represented through social networking, publicized updates, and challenges like asking your waitress to skip the straw for your drink. Efforts like that work towards a trash-free ocean.
The trash in the water impacts the world on many levels, including harming wildlife, humans, and impacting the livelihood of those who work on the ocean. It causes economic damage by affecting tourism and recreation and the money they bring into those communities that are the ocean shore.
The Ocean Conservatory knows that solving these issues requires bold initiatives and eliminating the sources of the trash that damages the ocean.
Empowering people to take an active role in the preservation and cleaning up of the ocean are important parts of helping the conservation of the ocean. By spreading tips and techniques to help reduce trash they help people everywhere aid the cleanup of our oceans. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/coastal-cleanup-day/.
