During the third Saturday in September, International Coastal CleanUp Day encourages people to clean the garbage that is plaguing beaches. Awareness is also spread about preserving and protecting the world’s oceans and waterways.
In partnership with volunteer organizations and individuals around the globe, the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways. Since its beginning, more than 17 million volunteers have collected more than 348 million pounds of trash.
Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup MAP
PLASTICS
Water has a cyclical nature, which means that anything we are putting into our oceans and other water bodies will come back to us sooner or later. For every mile of ocean, there are at least 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floating. Furthermore, as plastic does not decompose over a long period, and only disintegrates, very small plastic particles are already showing up in our food and water. If these trends continue, it won’t be long before we face disastrous outcomes for our environment.
Cleaning up the beaches wasn’t the only aim of the International Coastal Cleanup Day. Another important goal was to document and study the type of trash collected during the cleanup. Documentation included studying the trash’s material, where it could have come from, how long it would take to disintegrate, and what impact it would have on the ocean and the species living in it.
FACTS
The majority of life on our planet — a solid 94 %, is aquatic, needing water for their living conditions.
Only about 5 % of the oceans have been explored, with the rest of the 95% remaining untouched.
The oceans produce around 70 % of the oxygen in the world.
Just in the beginning of September the start-up Ocean CleanUp had revealed the most significant polluters responsible for the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean, which spreds across 1,6 million square kilometers, which is four times the area of Germany.
The new study revelas that 75% to 86% of plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) originates from fishing activities at sea. The primary countries/regions of origin identified on the items were Japan (34%), China (32%), the Korean peninsula (10%), and the USA (7%). But plastic emissions from rivers remain the main source of plastic pollution from a global ocean perspective.
Sources: nationaltoday.com, oceanconservancy.org, theoceancleanup.com
LET'S FIGHT TO SAVE THE OCEANS
VAKOVAKO will soon fight to save the oceans. 100 % of all donations given via our app to „OCEANS” area will be transferred to related NGOs. Let’s help them expand their activities together.