On the 15th of February, the locals of Bali, as well as people from various businesses and organizations who were there, got together to clean the beaches of this amazing island.
This event isn’t new- it’s the fourth year in a row that happens and it’s organized by the organization One Island One Voice.
This annual cleanup has become an iconic part of Bali and a lot of people who reside there and are aware about the ongoing plastic pollution problem look forward to it.
This year’s cleanup rally was the first since Bali banned single-use plastic.
Amazing Campaign that Emphasizes What Really Matters
Liina Klauss is an artist who supported this campaign with her impressive artwork.
She created an artistic piece from 1200 flip flops, 240 toothpaste containers, 330 pieces of Styrofoam, 400 plastic straws, 37 PET-bottles, and 310 plastic forks and spoons.
The partners of the organization are Making Oceans Plastic Free and they led the evaluation of the plastic waste that was collected during the annual event.
In total, they collected 20 tons in one day throughout Bali and the top three items were plastic food packaging, cigarette butts, and plastic cups and bottles.
There were also other items, including plastic straws, other plastic, plastic bags, glass, shoes, fishing gear, and cans.
According to One Island One Voice, these cleanups are tools of awareness, but they also show the amazing strength we possess when we come together.
Who Is One Island One Voice?
This Bali-based network of organizations is active in the waste prevention and management field.
Their goal is to motivate businesses to change their attitude towards plastic and provide suitable alternatives.
They’ve hosted record-breaking actions and they consider themselves to be ‘people power’.
The cleanups are organized by people from all ages- this year, their youngest coordinators were 10 years old!
This year’s cleanup took place in 115 different locations with a total of 12,500 people. They gathered and collected trash that would’ve ended up in the rivers, rice fields, and ocean.
For the past 4 years, this movement has helped gather 45,000 people in 325 locations and averted 135 tons of plastic from polluting our planet.
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