More than five tonnes of garbage was cleaned up at three beaches in Bahrain yesterday by more than 1,000 eco-loving volunteers, as part of World Cleanup Day (WCD).
The fifth-ever WCD was commemorated around the world with beach and neighbourhood clean-ups.
CleanUp Bahrain (CUB), the country leader for WCD and member of its parent organisation Let’s Do It, co-ordinated three clean-ups at Janabiya beach, Malkiya beach and Nurana Island.
“We had an amazing response and more than 1,000 volunteers came together for this year’s World Cleanup Day,” CUB co-founder and president Ali Alqaseer told the GDN.
“In total, we collected 5,457kg of waste, of which 4,268kg was general waste and 1,189kg was plastic waste.
“There was a lot of discarded wood and plastic, as well as construction materials.
“It was wonderful seeing individuals, organisations and schools come together to make a difference and clean up Bahrain’s beaches.”
This year, enterprising grassroots activators also had the option to clean up their own neighbourhood and share photographs and reports with CUB.
According to CUB, approximately 50 individuals took advantage of this option and cleaned up their neighbourhood, with specific reports about their clean-up efforts pending at the time of publication.
Last year, the organisation had focused on cleaning up Malkiya beach and around 200 volunteers picked up 500kg of garbage in two hours.
With 2020’s World Cleanup Day cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CUB’s record year was 2019, when 1,752 volunteers cleaned up 10,273.5kg of garbage from 12 beaches, of which 1,563kg was plastic and 8,710kg was general waste.
Across the world, more than 180 countries participate in the Estonian-founded World Cleanup Day, which started in 2008 when 50,000 people came together and cleaned up the entire country in five hours.
In 2018, World Cleanup Day’s parent organisation Let’s Do It went global and organised the first international clean-up day, through the grass-roots efforts of an extensive network of non-government organisations (NGOs), civic groups and institutions.
Since Bahrain started celebrating World Cleanup Day, the nature of the waste has also changed. Last year, CUB observed more and more disposable masks washing up on shore.
With Bahrain’s plastic ban entering its third phase today, targeted at plastic carrier bags thinner than 35 microns, less plastic might be found in coming years.
The organisation sees the ban as a step in the right direction but also sees a long way to go.
“With any environmental effort, it’s important that the entire community comes together, and we are grateful to the individuals, organisations and schools who came together this year, as well as the municipalities for the logistical support in making WCD happen.”
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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