International Clean up day at Pez Maya

The clean up day started at the bridge, clearing up rubbish left by local fishermen and families. Although signs and bins have been placed on and around the bridge and are being used, rubbish is still dumped in the car parking areas and in the undergrowth. Around 20 large bin bags were collected from this area alone, mostly glass beer bottles and food waste, as well as babies nappies and clothes/shoes. No data was recorded for this section of the clean. 

The official beach/shoreline clean was carried out by a team of ten comprised of staff and EMs. In pairs, with one person recording the rubbish type on the data card and the other person bagging it, the team worked from the path leading from the bridge down to the beach and along the shoreline to the Pez Maya base. The most commonly recorded items were plastic based, including bags, drinks bottles and plastic lids, and food wrappers and containers. Polystyrene was identified as an item of local concern. Other items found were other food related waste (plastic cutlery, glass bottles, drinks cans), fishing line, rope and bleach/cleaning product containers. In total, 697 items listed in categories on the data sheet were collected. Estimated total weight of all items collected (categorised or not) was 20kg. 

International Clean up day at Pez Maya