Beach clean-up in Malaysia
The recent haze may be getting many of us down, but since we can’t clean the air ourselves, we may as well play a part in other ways.
With an aim to give our Malayisan coastlines the makeover they deserve – Clean Reef Malaysia has partnered up with Coca-Cola to bring you the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) 2019. To be held on 21st September 2019, the annual event is back on an even larger scale this year – with eager beavers from 70 to 100 countries expected to take part.
How you can play a part
Image credit: Coca-Cola
There is no one go-to spot for this event – it’s nationwide. So you can just buddy up with your friends and family and head to a beach that you think could use some serious spring cleaning. Pick up the trash, document it and dispose of the trash – that’s it, you’ve done your part.
Use the hashtags #ICCMY19 & #CleanUpTogetherGather to document your journey along with many others and around the globe. It will serve as inspiration, and bring so many people together.
Don’t be fazed from joining if you’re from big cities like Kuala Lumpur – you can head over to beaches that are a mere hours’ drive away like Morib beach in Banting, Sepang beach or even Port Dickson.
Find your clean up crew
If you need some fellow “tree-huggers” to join, Malaysians Against Marine Debris has groups and businesses shouting out spots for you to help clean up. They’re actively looking for volunteers to join their clean-up groups, so you can bond over saving the environment.
Image credit: Malaysians Against Marine Debris
You can even sip on some free coffee after job well done
Image credit: IslandWatch CI
According to Reef Check Malaysia, last year’s clean up in September saw over 7,500 kg of trash collected – plastic bottles, cigarette butts and plastic grocery bags being the most common find.
No trashy business here, at Tanjung Lipat, Kota Kinabalu
Image credit: @ootb.my
Keep track of your trash count
Probably the only time you want to not only take out the trash, but keep track of it, this can be a mini-challenge for you to take on with your buddies. To easily keep score, download the Clean Swell App to key in your trash collection amount, submit it and share your personal “wins”.
Download the Clean Swell App to track your clean up progress
Image credit: Ocean Conservancy
Volunteer to clean Malaysia’s beaches
Image credit: @puihongang
We all want to do our part to save the environment, and our gorgeous beaches are definitely worth saving. It’s a warm, fuzzy feeling to see a sea (pun intended) of people across the globe joining in for one common cause.
When climate change is sounding alarm bells, the sheer volume of people committed to preventing plastic and other waste from choking our planet is what we all need to see.