The Votsalakia Beach in Piraeus, Greece embraced over 200 volunteers on that sunny Sunday in a cleanup action organized by the MedSOS under the auspices of UNEP/MAP.
The volunteers participating ranged from nearby soccer club players, employees of the private sector and other regional environmental and voluntary organizations, to local inhabitants of the area and even various beach guests, who decided to stop their tanning and give a hand as well.
This year, 8 staff members from UNEP/MAP took part to the campaign. Upon their arrival at the beach at around 10 am, they were handed huge plastic bags and gloves with a list on which they had to tick and record the different types of litter found.
The trash found included pieces of paper, metal, wood, glass and countless cigarette buds, carelessly stuck into the sand. The cleaning also involved ten divers of the nearby diving school of Piraeus, who helped collecting floating and seabed litter.
The event was part of the “Clean up the Mediterranean 2016” campaign “ΚΑΘΑΡΙΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟ 2016”, organized yearly by the UNEP/MAP partner, MEdSOS . This year, the campaign focused on increasing awareness on the dangers and effects of micro-plastics, which experts agree is the number one problem and emerging risk to coastal and marine environments.
