On Saturday, Oct 6, 2018 we participated in a beach cleanup event in La Herradura, “Limpieza de Playas”, held during their Festival del Mar weekend.
We were on Team Happy Fish, a group made up of worldschooling families, and one of 14 teams in total. We had over 50 parents and kids participating on our team as we tackled a stretch of beach on the west end of the bay. The focus was on picking up plastic, and cigarette butts in particular.
During the two hour cleanup, the over 350 volunteers participating collected many bags of trash, miscellaneous waste items, and 12 kg cigarette butts — around 24,000 of them!! At the end the group came together for food, drinks and a picture. Stats were tallied on a board showing the number of participants, cigarette butts and bags of trash collected.
Check out this cool video taken by one of the other groups! – We’re in the bit of drone footage at the end where they show the larger volunteer group. There was also an article in one of the local papers about the day.
They hope to continue holding these events regularly and would like to garner support for cigarette butt receptacles and signage around town. The next one will be in mid November. Our travels will have taken us away by then, but we’re so glad we got to help during the time we were here.
Take 3 for the Sea
We continue to try and Take 3 for the Sea and pick up at least three pieces of trash every time we go to a beach, no matter where are. We find it’s very easy to do. Join us?