How did 72 toothbrushes land on the beach?

COUNTRY: Kenya
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Community & Conservation
WRITTEN BY: GapBreak Kenya 2013

How on earth did 72 toothbrushes end up on the beautiful golden sands of Diani beach? That is the question our Kenya gappers were asking when we participated in the annual International Beach Clean Up alongside the Diani coastline last weekend…

We prepared ourselves with black bags, gloves and a smile on our face as we walked a distance of 2km collecting all sorts of ‘taka taka’ along the way. Toothbrushes, razor blades, dirty nappies, bottle tops, flip flops and more random pieces of plastic than you could think of were picked up by our staff and volunteers.

We met school groups, conservation groups, locals, and holiday makers alike, all getting involved and making every effort to educate others whilst doing so. Those more interested in chatting up the gappers were swiftly told to get picking the trash rather than talking it! A fantastic group we bumped in to called Green World are bringing conservation education to the younger generation in the area and we are hoping to join forces with them to spread the word further into the interior areas such as where our camps are based.

 

We did get a little over enthusiastic and tried with our might to remove a huge tyre that was burried into the sand, only to discover (we were quickly told) that it was the landmark for the hotels volleyball court and the volleyball post holders were firmly wedged deep in the sand! Woops!!

In total we weighed 190Kg of waste and 25kg of that was flip flops. It proves that flip flops are still an issue, although less so than previous years, and we will continue to utilise them in a creative way by joining forces with local artist Benson Gitari who teaches our volunteers how to make juggling balls, key rings, jewellery and all sorts of weird and wonderful bits and bobs from the discarded flip flops.

This summer we made money boxes in the shape of turtles that were decorated in wasted flip flops to highlight the danger that plastic has on marine life. These little turtles are now in the schools that have joined us on expedition in order to raise awareness of what we do at Camps International and to raise funds for the Camps Foundation which will enable us to continue to assist with marine and environmental conservation.

For those of you who have come scuba diving with us, you will understand, even more so, the importance of keeping our ocean clean and free from plastics and rubbish that harm marine life. If we can spread the word to youngsters and get them involved from an early age that will actually create a change in behaviour with regards to waste management then we are onto a good thing.