This month, the world celebrated International Coastal Clean-Up Day! In Bali, this year’s International Coastal Clean-Up Day was celebrated in 16 locations, including Sanur.

Initiated by Bali Hotels Association, the International Coastal Clean-Up at Karang Beach in Sanur was joined by over 200 participants from local schools and hotels. They worked together to collect non-organic waste including cigarette butts, food wrappers and plastic bottles. The waste collected was recorded for the Ocean Conservancy coastal clean up database, providing in-depth information to instruct and direct solutions for waste found in marine and coastal ecosystems.

Widiari, from Bali Hotels Association, hopes that the students can spread the word of reducing plastic waste to their families. “This activity is to build awareness in the community about keeping the environment clean. Rising awareness cannot be done quickly, it has to be done slowly and consistently. Starting with schools students are educated to wrap their food without plastic, so these kids will also influence their families to start reducing single-use plastics” he said. 

After the clean up, CTC led a game session called Corals and Groupers, where the students could also learn about the threats facing marine and coastal ecosystems from destructive fishing practices. Through games like this, the CTC team is helping to grow awareness among local communities, building a wave of change to protect the oceans.