International Coastal Cleanup Day: Raising Awareness On Marine Litter

On the International Coastal Cleanup Day, people are engaged to remove debris from the beaches and waterways. The day is observed on September's third Saturday to generate awareness on marine litter.

Hyderabad:The International Coastal Cleanup Day is observed on the third Saturday of September. It is an initiative aimed to raise awareness about the problem of marine litter. This is a global event that promotes local clean-up actions on beaches, coastal areas, rivers, lagoons and other waterways.

Every year thousands of tons of garbage winds up in the oceans, with at least 60 per cent 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 thousands of individual pieces of plastic litter for every square mile of ocean. This is a dire situation for the health of the earth's oceans, which directly impacts the health of the people.

History:

In 1986, Linda Maraniss and Kathy O’Hara founded the International Coastal Cleanup Day, an event dedicated to cleaning up beaches. The initiative originated from Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on environmental protection. Kathy O’Hara's research on ocean plastic pollution served as a catalyst for the event's creation. It started as a simple act of cleaning local beaches to combat pollution. A key focus has been documenting and studying the types of trash collected during cleanups.

Plastic Pollution in the Ocean:

• Plastic waste makes up 80 per cent of all marine pollution and around 8 to 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year.
• Research states that, by 2050, plastic will likely outweigh all fish in the sea.
• In the last ten years, we have produced more plastic products than in the previous century.
• The Environmental Protection Agency has stated that basically 100 per cent of all plastics human beings have ever created are still in existence.
• Plastic generally takes between 500-1000 years to degrade. Even then, it becomes microplastics, without fully degrading.
• Currently, there are about 50-75 trillion pieces of plastic and microplastics in the ocean.

ICC Initiative to Clean Coastal Areas and Beaches:

In partnership with volunteer organisations and individuals around the globe, the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways. Thanks to millions of volunteers around the world, the ICC has become a beacon of hope, leading and inspiring action in support of our ocean. Since its beginning, over 18 million volunteers have collected over 380 million pounds of trash.

Swachh Sagar Surkashit Sagar 2023:

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) conducted mega citizen-led beach clean-up drives at 79 locations in eight coastal states and four UTs of the country on September 16, 2023 that continued on September 17, 2023 to mark International Coastal Clean-up Day.

The event was aimed to encourage citizens to clean up the coastal line and create awareness about preserving and protecting the oceans and waterways. It witnessed mass participation from government institutions, NGOs, students and youth, local dwellers, and the public. Over 5,000 volunteers helped clean about 18 tons of waste. At 12 select locations, Fisherfolk Awareness Programs to educate coastal communities about the services of the MoES were organised along with the beach clean-up drive.

The 2023 Swachh Sagar Surkashit Sagar beach clean-up drives by five MoES institutes—Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), National Centre for Ocean and Polar Research (NCPOR), Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), and National Centre for Earth System Sciences (NCESS)— got associated many volunteers and NGOs making it a one-of-its-kind successful event.

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