6000kg of Plastic Waste Collected on Kenyan Coastline

 A group of waste reduction contributors recently walked along Kenya’s coastline and collected more than 6,000kg of plastic waste from the sea that had washed up on shore.

 The event, which aims to cut back out on the large amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans, was created and executed by Kwale County, Base Titanium, World Wildlife Fund Kenya, and more than 300 eager volunteers and waste removal organizations from nearby areas. The officially proclaimed International Coastal Cleanup will occur at least once every year.

 Not only does the event directly improve the state of the ocean, but it also draws attention to the reality of environmental pollution. People are learning how bad it really is and how much it’s affecting the plants, animals, and people that depend on natural resources for survival. Local communities in particular are getting involved in the earth-protecting initiative, helping the organizations reduce marine waste.

 We humans suffer the consequences of our actions more than we once thought. Eight billion tons of plastic finds its way into the world’s oceans annually, which is torn into bite-sized pieces over time and eaten by the marine animals that mistake it for convenient food. Through the water, soil, and fish we consume, this plastic finds its way to us, infecting our systems with the chemicals it gives off. If things go on like this, plastic waste in oceans will outnumber fish by 2050.

 There are many ways we can drastically decrease the amount of plastic that enters the Earth’s water systems, and International Coastal Cleanup is just one of them. During the global waste collection of 2015, 800,000 volunteers around the world picked up a total of 8 million kilograms of plastic waste. In Kwale County, this year’s event saw 100 more volunteers and picked up 3,400kg more plastic than last year, a significant improvement that environmental organizations hope will continue as time passes.

 The state of our oceans is simply unacceptable: it’s hard to deny it at this point. With global efforts like this one, however, perhaps we can restore every ocean in the world to a reasonable state.