WE JOIN INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP DAY

Marine debris travels too. More than 8 million items of litter end up in the sea each day.  

International Coastal Cleanup Day takes place around the world on the third Saturday in September. More than 157 countries and 18 million volunteers have joined this cause, participating in a day that aims to achieve one of the greatest challenges facing us today: Cleaning up our planet!    

On Thursday, 9^th September, THB expressed our support for this initiative by organising a clean-up of Na Patana beach in Can Picafort, Mallorca, in collaboration with Santa Margalida Town Council and other partner companies such as Limpiezas Nord and Only Water. The methodology used for this action was in line with that of the European project led by Ocean Conservancy.

At the meeting point, participants were divided up into groups of 5 volunteers and a coordinator. Before setting off to their assigned zone on the beach, they each received a cleaning kit (backpack, cap, gloves and water) and instructions on how to sort marine debris, microplastics, medical and hygiene waste, glass and other types of litter.  

The latest edition of this annual action once again links us to the European “International Coastal Cleanup” initiative, spearheaded by the Ocean Conservancy organisation and coordinated in Spain by the association Ambiente Europeo. This is the biggest global citizen volunteer event in favour of a Healthy Sea, which each year attracts more than a million volunteers in over 100 countries and territories who collect, sort and record data about the debris and litter that contaminate coastlines, and sea, river and lake beds.  

The almost 40 volunteers who signed up for the initiative followed a specific methodology during the beach clean up, based on identifying the type, composition and possible origins of the waste. They spent the morning collecting, sorting and recording on a datacard the waste contaminating the shores of Na Patana beach in Can Picafort.  

Eleven kilos of waste were recorded along a line running some 150 metres. These included more than 1,587 fragments of unidentifiable plastic measuring less than 2.5 cm and 1,139 fragments measuring more than 2.5 cm, as well as cigarette butts and hygienic waste like cotton buds, etc.   

The information collected provides an immensely useful tool for identifying the activities behind the accumulation of waste in each area.  

One of the aims of this action is to highlight THB hotels’ determination to convert sustainable development and environmental commitments and goals into specific actions, getting local communities involved and raising their awareness. 

The results are sent to the association ‘Ambiente Europeo’ and are entered onto an online map on the project website. Here you can see the clean up that THB hotels organised in 2018 in Porto Cristo, as part of an internal event with 22 volunteers. 

Collecting marine debris data is vital in order to raise social awareness, bring about real changes to habits and to apply or propose policies based on objective, quantitative information.