Rapanui Record Beach Clean

The largest quantity of beach waste recovered in a non disaster event (MCS)

Grange Chine was one of the sparks that lit the Rapanui rocket; an area which really suffers from the accumulation of beach waste, we adopted it as our own and got our hands dirty...

We had been surfing a little-known spot on the West coast of the Island for a couple of years to escape the crowds at Compton and decided it was time to do something about the mess.

Mart had narrowly missed treading on a hypodermic needle there one morning, and that was just the start of it; the amount of waste within that short mile-long stretch was unbelievable.

We know some folks at the Marine Conservation Society; they pulled some strings so we could take over the beach sponsorship, and organised a proper beach detox for the whole bay. The Marine Conservation Society said that our detox saw some of the worst pollution ever recorded for a non-disaster event.

We collected 114 bin liners full of rubbish (over half a tonne) and arranged for the useful waste to be recycled, whilst the rest went to the local Energy from Waste Plant.

We were able to deliver a full data survey back to the MCS for their research too. Importantly though, this was an exercise in joining the dots, making our community aware that we are directly responsible for such unbelievable pollution, right on our doorstep.

Posted By: on April 23rd, 2010

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