Wednesday, December 30, 2009

27th & 29th Dec clean up

The strong winter currents once again piled tonnes of rubbish onto the beach, the far side being so bad we could barely see the ground beneath it. It was a shocking site, even to the regulars of the group. The bewildering question on everyone's mind.. who on earth was throwing all of this into the sea? With such a large volume of the rubbish looking like edible material to marine life, it was a sad reminder of how little respect some individuals have for the illusive creatures of the mediterranean, such as turtles, dolphins and sharks.



Bad weather cut the original clean up short but didn't stop a handful of determined volunteers from collecting an impressive amount of trash despite the wind and rain.



Two days later a few of us managed to get back down to the beach to finish off what the others had started and collected close to 20 bags full.


A cleaner beach for all to enjoy and a good many turtles with less plastic to suffocate on. Big thanks to all who joined!

29th Nov clean up

A handful of the usual dedicated volunteers and several new faces were met with hot weather despite it being the end of November. This time, an even greater emphasis was made on separating the recyclable items from the rest of the rubbish. We can across long lines of rope washed in by the sea, half a BBQ set and an entire curtain!



Many ripped lengths of plastic were also found buried in the sand, most likely having been thrown overboard industrial ships.




Another great clean up with smiles of satisfaction all round!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

18th Oct clean up

As we slipped on our gloves at the windy beach, a swarm of foreign students made their way down the Ghajn Tuffieha steps. Much to our surprise, instead of pulling out towels and drinks, they walked straight up to us and asked for bags, turning an 8 man team into our record turn out of 26 volunteers.


Two hours and 32 bags of rubbish later, we heaved everything back up to the roadside to be picked up and taken to the landfill where it all belongs. We would like to thank the ever supportive regulars and each and every one of our surprise student volunteers for giving up your Sunday afternoons to give us a helping hand. Cheers!



Photography by Chris Cachia Zammit

Sunday, August 16, 2009

7th June clean up

With the beach being so packed this time round, most of us headed to the outskirts of the area in groups. Shoes, rusty old chairs, rope, the usual tons of plastic and cans... we found it all.


The highlight of the evening was a group of kids who came up to us asking for gloves and bags to help out. They rushed into the crowd and came back with a somewhat alarming stash of cigarette butts.


Our thanks to the nameless youngens who spent their evening cleaning up after the so called responsible adults who littered the sand in the first place!

Another fulfilling day :-)

Monday, July 27, 2009

19th April clean up

Yet another great turn out with plenty of new faces in the team. The beach was quiet so we managed to give it a thorough seeing to and had it looking spotless in no time.


We then relaxed until sunset and enjoyed getting to know the new guys a little better over cold drinks. Another great day in the company of awesome people.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

1st March clean up

The number of new volunteers took us aback as we met up in the Ghajn Tuffieha car park - family, friends, friends of friends and even complete strangers were turning up to give us a hand.

With well coordinated teamwork the SAS would be proud of, we hauled in our biggest heap of rubbish yet.


Seeing so many people work together for a common cause was an awesome experience - one we hope to repeat over and over to maintain the beauty of our shores.

1st Feb clean up

A week later we returned to the beach with double the man power. The beach was still in an awful state and more and more rubbish was being dragged out to sea every day. Bottle caps, rope and plastic bags have all proven to be fatal to many species of marine life - thousands of turtles alone die each year by mistaking plastic bags for jelly fish.


With this in mind and a desire to get our beach back to its former glory, we grabbed our bags and gloves and set to work, slowly but surely working our way up the beach. The difference last week's clean up had made was evident but by the time we were done with this one it looked like a completely different place.


We proudly stacked the mounds of bags at the top of the Ghajn Tuffieha stairs and set off for a well earned cold drink amongst great company.

25th Jan clean up

Over the winter the beautiful Ghajn Tuffieha was left abandoned, which resulted in a horrific sight when we made it down to the sand.


Within a few hours we'd collected over 20 bags of rubbish and countless other bits and pieces that would have otherwise been washed out to sea. The huge task of restoring the beach to its natural state was by no means finished, but a dent had been made and we went home with a feeling of great accomplishment.