With their gentle waves and warm sand, beaches are some of the most beautiful spots on our planet. They have a soothing, calming ambience that few destinations can match. Unfortunately, the 21st century has been an unfortunate time for our beaches.
That’s because of ocean pollution. Nowadays, it’s almost a norm to find plastic waste, cigarette butts, balloons, and other traces of human activity on every coastline. That’s why we’ll address reasons why you and I need to take care of our local beaches. Let’s dive in:
7 Key Reasons To Clean Up Your Local Beach
1. Improved Seafood Safety
If you think beach cleanliness has nothing to do with you, think again. Any form of contamination in the sea could be ingested by fish and other sea organisms and absorbed into their tissue. Consequently, your favourite lobster meal could lead to serious health issues for you.
One research study from Ghent University in Belgium found that the typical seafood consumer consumes about 11,000 small pieces of plastic annually. Such plastics contain toxins that build up in your body, causing serious health problems. As such, to make sure you’re consuming toxin-free seafood, clean up your beach!
2. Conserving Aquatic Life
Can you imagine a life without sharks, whales, and our beloved dolphins? If you can’t, the time to pick up the litter on your beach is now! Pollution statistics in the UK showed that over 100 million marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone.
That’s because of ingesting or becoming trapped by plastic waste. They could also suffer from infections, internal injuries, lacerations and a reduced ability to swim as a result of the waste you and I dump or leave on beaches. Let’s all aim to clean up our beaches before the trash finds itself in the stomach of our aquatic life.
3. Keeping Our Gems Wondrous
Beaches are our natural gems; magnificent and breathtaking! They offer a variety of stunning, all-natural sights that we love to explore and enjoy together. Unfortunately, rubbish takes away the beauty of beaches, stealing their magnificence. To encourage both local and international tourists to visit your beach, keep it beautiful by collecting trash.
4. To Keep Harmful Toxins Out of The Water
Did you know that small as it is, a cigarette butt can have a significant impact on pure water? Within a short time (1 hour), it can contaminate roughly 8 litres of water with hazardous and harmful substances. That said, by picking 10 cigarette butts, you get to spare nearly 800 gallons of water from pollution. That way, you swim in clean water free of toxins.
5. To Keep The Beach Safe
Beaches are supposed to be tranquil spaces that we can enjoy with our kids. Unfortunately, litter can lead to insecurity and vandalism, making beaches unsafe. Not just that, but broken glass and pointy objects could lead to serious cuts and infections, discouraging people from using the beach. Having said that, collecting litter keeps the beach safe, devoid of shards of broken glass or sharp metallic objects. You can help to keep the beach safe by working on corporate volunteering day.
6. Boosts Local Business
Seaside towns heavily rely on fishing and tourism in their economy. As such, by keeping beaches litter-free, you encourage visitors (scuba divers, sailors, explorers, etc) and enhance the health of the fish in the sea, boosting fishing as an occupation. This guarantees a better local economy.
7. Recycling and Reusing
Recycling and reusing cut down waste and make sure that waste resources are made into new products. In this sense, when you collect trash, you make this possible. Granted, there are a lot of recyclable and compostable materials that end up in landfills where they cannot fully decompose. When picking up trash, be sure to recycle and compost as much as you can!
Wind Up
In a nutshell, picking up beach waste will not only benefit the earth, your local economy, and the sea creatures; it will also benefit you. Give it a try this weekend to make the earth a better place!
