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Focus on Not for Profits: Pure Clean Earth

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The "Trash Tribe" poses with the result of their efforts of one hour of beach cleanup along Barceloneta Beach. Photo courtesy of Pure Clean Earth.

According to a study by the University of Plymouth, plastic pollution affects at least 700 marine species, while some estimates suggest that at least 100 million marine creatures die each year due to plastic pollution. Figures published in the journal Science in 2015 indicate that somewhere between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year.

How Does This Amount of Garbage Reach the Ocean?

It’s a complex issue, but one significant contributor to the problem is poor waste management in many regions of the world.

This is an excellent example of how, even when we properly dispose of our trash and take it to a landfill, our waste can still find its way, directly or indirectly, into our oceans. One way that we can reduce the amount of garbage that goes to our landfills is to recycle all glass, plastic, paper and aluminum products. Of the garbage that can be found in US landfills, about 80% is recyclable. In England, 13 billion plastic bottles are produced per year, but only three billion are recycled. In Spain, only 14% of the plastic waste that is generated is collected for recycling. 

Will Recycling Save Our Planet?

The short answer is: No. But, it can significantly reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our landfills and our oceans.

With recycling only partially effective, another primary strategy to reduce plastic waste is to reduce the production and use of single use plastic items. It is estimated that every second 170,000 plastic bags are produced and used. By the end of this year, we will have used 500 billion plastic bags of which, five million plastic bags will go to the ocean. In addition, less than one percent of these used plastic bags are recycled correctly. This is the reason why plastic is the number one and most serious source of pollution in the ocean.

Going Beyond the Three Rs  

The enormous amount of plastic debris collecting on the city’s beaches is what convinced British expat Daniel Reynolds that he needed to do more that just “reduce, reuse, recycle.” In April 2018 he started the Pure Clean Earth movement. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, MeetUp, and WhatsApp, Daniel invited others to  join him in Barceloneta to clean up the trash on the beach.

And, people came out, more and more every week. Now in Barcelona every Friday at 18:30 some 20 to 40 people called the “Trash Tribe” gather to clean up the busiest of Barcelona’s beaches. Daniel also organizes cleanups in Sitges every Saturday and he started a group in his hometown of Attleborough, England to clean two kilometers of beach there. This is part of a worldwide movement to clean up our beaches and remove plastics from our oceans, and so far the Trash Tribe has picked up over 8500 kg of trash from our beaches.

All kinds of plastic items, large and small, can be found along the beaches. Photo courtesy of Pure Clean Earth.

The Trash Tribe

Barceloneta Beach clean-up participants are a mix of “veterans”—regulars like me—and there are always newcomers joining the group. It’s a very international crowd, so often English is the common language. We gather at Plaça del Mar where one of the organizers will orient us to our mission as well as the particulars of the day’s clean up. They remind us that the true goal is to educate and be positive role models for the people who see us cleaning the beach and, of course, to have fun! Off we go with bags and cups in hand. We gather up everything that does not naturally belong on the beach, including cans, bottles, papers, wrappers, pieces of toys, mattresses, straws and stirrers, lots and lots of cigarette butts and all kinds of microplastics. We generally gather from 15 to 40 kilos of trash in one hour! We weigh the booty and then separate it out for proper recycling. In the end, there is very little that we gather up that cannot be recycled. 

On World Cleanup Day in September 2018, Pure Clean Earth mobilized 200 people who cleaned over 300 kg of trash in just two hours. What started as one person’s idea just over a year ago is now a nonprofit organization making a difference in Barcelona and beyond.

You can find out more about Pure Clean Earth at: purecleanearth.org, join the Meetup group and follow its activities on Twitter: @purecleanearth, Facebook: @purecleanearth and Instagram: @purecleanearth. 

Plastic Facts

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