We had another great turnout for our quarterly cleanup on December 7,2019: 57 volunteers and Friends of Hanauma Bay members.
The far end of the beach had a lot of debris this time, and morning swimmers had reported for a few days that net tangles and trash were floating in Witches Brew. Some of that debris had made it over the reef to the beach (but who knows how much is still stuck on the reef, causing damage to a wonderful ecosystem!). A group of about 25 students and families, led by the Wipeout Crew, did an amazing job removing debris from the beach. In fact, the waves continued to bring in a murky soup of microplastics, which volunteers sifted out of the water, using the sand sifters made by the Wipeout Crew. Please take a look at some of the photos we posted by clicking HERE
We are so grateful to the groups who joined us from various branches of the US Military, students from the Kaiser High School Wipeout Crew (who also helped to run the event), students from Chaminade University and Wayland Baptist University, members of the Hawaii Chinese Baptist Church and several families and individuals.
The full data summary is shown below, but the top items this time were:
508 cigarette butts
576 food wrappers
430 bottle caps and other lids
177 take out containers
136 plastic bags
245 straws, stirrers and utensils
135 beverage bottles and cans
Lots of tiny trash
~1,300 foam pieces,
~300 glass pieces,
~12,000 plastic pieces
US military members also removed invasive weeds around the pipe by the tram turnaround and behind the second bathroom. They would have kept going, but we had no more bags left to fill!
Our next cleanup is scheduled for March 7, 2020. If you would like to join us with a group, please email outreach@friendsofhanaumabay.org.
Mahalo and happy holidays.
