Project aware beach clean data 2008

Beach cleanings are worldwide effective activities that contribute to raise environmental awareness and help to Marine conservation. As you might have read in this blog, in October, GVI Mexico was invited to participate in the International Clean up day promoted by Ocean Conservancy and PADI Project Aware. Laura Wilkenson coordinator of Project Aware is documenting all the data collected around the world and sent us the following interesting information for your reading:

So far almost 300,000 people gathered over 4,838,000 pounds of garbage on over 14,072 miles and counting!

The sad news is that more cigarettes were collected in 2008 from 2007 but the good news is that volunteers and coordinators have been careful in recording and reporting data, making their efforts really count. Almost one million more cigarettes were collected this year than in 2007, totaling 2,890,865! Thank you and congratulations for such an incredible contribution for the planet!

So far almost 7,000 divers were reported to have volunteered to cleanup our underwater environments around the world.

The following top ten items make up over 83% of all the items collected

Cigarettes/Cigarette Filters	28.11%
Bags(Plastic)	12.84%
Caps, Lids	8.07%
Food Wrappers/Containers	7.90%
Beverage Bottles (plastic) 2 liters or less	6.29%
Bags(Paper)	4.84%
Straws, Stirrers	4.48%
Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons	3.82%
Glass Beverage Bottles	3.80%
Beverage Cans	3.36%

GVI Pez Maya Expedition members and staff contributed to these global figures with collecting:

Cigarettes/Cigarette Filters	40
Bags(Plastic)	64
Caps, Lids	552
Food Wrappers/Containers	64
Beverage Bottles (plastic) 2 liters or less	412
Bags(Paper)	52
Straws, Stirrers	15
Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons	208
Glass Beverage Bottles	43
Beverage Cans	15

We would also like to convey Laura Wilkensen's last message:

Well now you know, so now what? Take note of these items and you can help spread the word about the devastating effect debris can have on our ecosystems. Plastic bags are a huge threat to all kinds of creatures; you can help by bringing your own reusable bags when you shop and let others know why you make the effort. Make a New Year’s resolution and try to reduce your use of disposable food and drink containers and tell people your plan so you stick to it and hopefully lead by example!

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Thank you for being part of the marine debris solution.

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Project aware beach clean data 2008