By Claudia Guzmán

Ocean Conservancy’s worldwide initiative dates back over 30 years ago, when different communities set as their goal to recollect and register the trash scattered across the coast.

And this year, Terra Peninsular and Pacifica at Ensenada Bay joined the local front of the International Coastal Cleanup campaign integrated by nonprofits, companies, associations and authorities.

The cleaning was carried out on September 22, 2018 at the beach in front of Pacífica, in Ensenada.

The cleaning dynamics consisted in the organization of groups for the sifting process on the sand in order to collect small objects, such as cigarette butts, plastic bits, Styrofoam and glass, while another group helped with handmade trash removal.

The trash was deposited into sacks, and each group undertook the task of counting and filling in the information of the Ocean Conservancy’s volunteering sheets. The collected trash was delivered at the counting and weighing stations where they were given a
ticket exchangeable for three or more items at the Trash Bazaar.

This bazaar is a volunteer initiative in which they gathered, prior to the cleaning, second hand objects, such as books, cups, clothing, toys and decorative objects.

Also, the Boat Swim initiative participated, this is an organization from Tijuana that promotes plogging, a sport that combines exercise with environmental protection.

During this event we also promoted the campaign “The beach belongs to everyone”, since one of the main goals is to clean the beach.

Results

  • 3280 feet of the coast extension was cleaned, in front of La Lagunita and Pacífica.
  • 2094 pounds of trash were collected.
  • The trash that we found the most was plastic bits, cigar butts, Styrofoam and glass bottles.

Around 200 people attended, including students from CET-MAR, UNID, UABC and CETYS, as well as Club Rotario Ensenada Riviera, Out of the Boat Swim, MGY-i, Team Rodar, HDI Seguros, ICMME organization and Materia Verde.

Special thanks to our sponsors, without their support, this event wouldn’t have been possible.