Did you know that 70% of marine litter comes from inland? Marine pollution is actually one of the most serious threats to our oceans. Because we at Greencarrier hold nature close to our hearts, and want our planet to be green and flourishing, we decided to join the clean-up movement!
The oceans have been turned into plastic waste dumps
Every year, millions of tonnes of litter end up in oceans, beaches, forests and elsewhere in nature. The primary causes are our societies’ unsustainable production and consumption patterns, poor waste management strategies and the lack of environmental awareness.
Basically, we are turning the oceans into plastic waste dumps. And since no one is held responsible, the situation is only getting worse – every year. The amount of trash that is dumped in our oceans is set to double over the next decade. This poses a significant threat to the marine life, as well as to food safety and human health.
In line with the Greencarrier Spirit we decided to take action against the marine pollution, and become part of two clean-up campaigns: European Clean-Up Day and Coast Rescuers.
Two initiatives with the same purpose – to tackle and give visibility to the litter problem
The first campaign is organised by the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR). Their aim is to promote the implementation of awareness-raising actions about sustainable resource and waste management – during one single week. The purpose of the campaign is to coordinate a Europe-wide annual clean-up event, that takes place on the same day all over the continent; involving and reaching as many citizens as possible.
The second campaign is organised by the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, which is a creator of public opinion that promotes recycling and combats litter through public awareness campaigns, awards and environmental education. The foundation strives to influence people’s attitudes and behaviour in order to encourage a sustainable development. The aim of Coast Rescuers (which is also part of the European Clean-Up Day) is to increase the knowledge and put marine litter on the political agenda – and to find solutions to stop the littering of our seas.
Cleaning up the coastline of Billdal
We decided to call our activity Greencarrier Clean-Up. Being part of the clean-up campaigns is a great opportunity, not only to contribute to a greener planet, but also to increase the involvement and engagement among our employees. Said and done, last week, we gathered all our Greencarrier Liner Agency staff in Gothenburg, Sweden and spent the entire afternoon cleaning the beach in Billdal, a municipal locality in Gothenburg.
Billdal has a winding coastline with many islands. It has a rich birdlife, and birds are often resting by the many beaches, enjoying the surroundings and soft shallow seabeds. In many areas of the globe, birds inadvertently feed on plastic floating on the water, mistaking it for food, and many times this ingestion leads to death and even the death of their young – something we want to stop.
During the day we collected and sorted as much litter as we possibly could! Together we collected 370 kilos of trash, which we are very proud of! The number will be reported to the European Week for Waste Reduction; by being part of the campaign and helping to clean up their environment, we and other participants can see how much waste is being dumped in our neighbourhoods. This action will hopefully raise the awareness of Gothenburg’s citizens on the litter problem, and help change people’s behaviour.
This is how we organised our clean-up action – you can do it too!
Do you also think that the oceans have suffered at the hands of mankind far too long? We encourage everyone to become part of the clean-up movement! This is what we did to organi
se our Greencarrier clean-up action:
- We identified a place to clean and got our contacts on board
- We registered our action with our coordinator responsible for our area.
- We set up our team and promoted our clean-up activity.
You can do it too! Apart from the European clean-up day you can take part in various awareness-raising actions. For more info visit the European Week for Waste Reduction.
