We had a lovely time picking up plastic on the beach the other day. There were eight of us altogether, including two of our English students and three of our helpers, all with exciting backgrounds and travel plans. Our aim was to make Coco Beach, or the Reef, look squeaky clean with no hint of plastic trash which is quite a task as there will always be leftover plastic that has mildly disintegrated. We gathered some plastic bottles which we filled with straws, as well as getting bigger plastic bags to fill with other miscellaneous plastic.

Some members of the group are are anti-straw with a passion and so decided to focus on clearing the beach of this particular nuisance. It’s crucial to eliminate beaches of straws having seen the damage they can do to any poor sea creature. After our clear-up, we left our full bags on the beach and proceeded heading to the Lagoon to end the event with some fun and games.

Unfortunately, when we returned to Coco Beach we were shocked to find that the bags were being burnt by some locals. We recognise that they were trying to get rid of what they saw as just bags of rubbish, but it was such a shame as burning plastic is incredibly toxic, for both humans and the environment. It just goes to show that we have a long way to go in our education programs.

We did have a great time though!