A WHOPPING 95.4kg of waste has been collected by 16 volunteers who combed the beach area in Bayan Lepas here.
They were staff and students of Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs), volunteers from Prince of Wales Island International School and the public who took part in the ‘International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022’ near the Astaka Pantai Seagate in Bayan Lepas.
Cemacs senior lecturer Dr Annette Jaya Ram, who joined the programme, said straws, plastic bags, plastic beverage bottles and cigarette butts were among the most waste collected.
“We collected 606 straws, 235 plastic bags, 183 plastic beverage bottles and 174 cigarette butts when we clean up the 300m-long beach area.
“Cemacs encourages the people (solo or in small groups) to protect Penang’s coastal areas by cleaning them, in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022.
“We hope that the public can be our ‘citizen scientists’ and send us the data from your cleanup activities,” she told Buletin Mutiara recently.
Also volunteered was Cemacs director Prof Datuk Dr Aileen Tan.
Dr Annette said the International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022 was Cemacs’ annual activity.
“The public can choose the date(s) of their liking to conduct the beach/river cleanup activities from Sept 17 to Oct 16.
“They can also select their preferred coastal or river areas, as well as the duration of their programme,” she said.
She said that e-certificates would be given to the participants.
Watch the tutorial at http://bit.ly/cemacs2022 to get started.
The online data collection form can be obtained via http://bit.ly/cemacs_form
Printable data sheet can be found at https://bit.ly/data_cemacs22
For more details, e-mail to [email protected] or visit Cemacs’ Facebook or Instagram pages.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix courtesy of Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies