Beach and Underwater Cleanups

TOPIC:

Initiative

Beach and Underwater Cleanups - Beach Cleaning

SUBMITTED FROM:

The volunteer team Beach Cleaning was founded in 2018 by a group of students and carries out underwater and coastal cleaning throughout Greece. Four years later, the students have now become students, having successfully completed more than 70 activities, lifting more than 45 tons of garbage. The purpose of our team is the protection of the environment, and the cleaning of both the coasts of Greece and the seabed from polluting objects. Moreover, what makes our actions so special is the complete recycling of plastics, through the model of the circular economy.

In collaboration with the Swedish Institute of Circular Economics CEEII we separate the plastic from the rest of the garbage, and through a special treatment new objects are created which we then offer back to society. In the years 2020 - 2021, collecting plastic from 28 actions, we managed to create 7 sets of bench and bucket which we gave back to the municipalities where the actions took place.

Contact

Objective Action

The Beach Cleaning team has been carrying out underwater and coastal cleaning since 2018. Our goal is to clean the seabed and beaches of Greece helping the environment and society. At the same time we try to inform and sensitize the citizens through the actions.

Target Audience

The actions are aimed at all ages and all citizens who are interested in becoming part of the change. We naturally try to sensitize young people and especially children as we believe that as citizens of the future they must have been informed and be able to help in some way.

Duration

The actions have started since April 2018 and we continue. The actions usually last until December and start again in February of the following year. We have an average of two actions per month.

Description

The Beach Cleaning team was not the first or the last team to start its underwater and coastal cleanups. But it pioneered in three areas. Its members, waste recording and final processing.

Initially, the Beach Cleaning team was founded by high school students who are now students and continue.

Also, after collecting the waste, we divide them into categories based on the material (plastic, paper, metal, glass) and then measure them in detail. e.g. 52 glasses, 45 bottles, 11 rubber bands etc.

Finally, we send the plastics we collect to a factory where after special processing through the model of Circular Economy, they are transformed into new objects and we give them back to the society and to the Municipalities where the actions took place. In 2020 we managed to create 7 sets of bench and bucket and gave them to 7 Municipalities that we cleaned.

more...

Impact on Society

In 2021 we carried out 20 actions collecting 20,400 kilos. Since the beginning of the actions in April 2018, more than 110 volunteers, 18 organizations have participated and we have lifted more than 44,000 kg.

Initiative Location

The actions we have taken over the last three years are almost embracing the whole country. From Thessaloniki to Crete and from Igoumenitsa to Rhodes while we have cleaned the seabed in Naxos, Aegina, Vonitsa, Salamina, Volos, Evia, Oropos, Samos as well as many activities in Attica.

More...…

Working with Organization

In order to carry out the process of circular economy and to process plastics, we collaborated with the Swedish Institute of Circular Economy (CEEII). The collaboration started in 2019 and our ideas since then have not stopped becoming a reality.

More...…

Workers Participation

All participants are volunteers and no one is paid for the actions.

Benefits for Οrganization

The Beach Cleaning team started 4 years ago with the aim of cleaning the beaches and the seabed. 4 years later the team has grown, it has developed, it has matured but its goal and time is the same, its vision is the same. To be able to make a change for the good of the environment and society. To leave behind an ecological footprint for future generations.

ENVIRONMENT