Let’s Keep the Ocean Trash Free
Whether you’re duck diving under a heavenly turquoise wave on your surfboard, whale watching in the Arctic or simply taking a dip on your local beach, seeing trash in the water—or worse, having it smack you in the face—is a sad possibility that’s becoming reality on every corner of the earth. It’s time to stop blameshifting and take responsibility for the trash plaguing our beautiful blue oceans.
The Plastic Pollution Epidemic
Eight-million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and that’s in addition to the 150 million metric tons already in the ocean. The plastic pollution epidemic is devastating to the ocean’s ecosystems and every species that depends on it, including humans. It’s estimated that plastic pollution affects more than 1,220 species with sea birds, whales, sea turtles and fish among the main victims.
Our Mission to Clean Up Beaches
When we first slipped into bikinis and swim trunks to cover the world’s best beach destinations in 2017, we quickly realized there’s a huge problem with tourism today, especially impacting our oceans and beaches. While we encourage travel to tropical destinations, we’re also very aware of the negative impact tourism has on our natural resources, and so we set out on one of our greatest and most difficult missions yet.
Being the ocean lovers that we are (you’ll find us free diving or marking turtle nests along our shores on any given day), we muscled up and took on the ocean pollution problem head first. We started connecting with communities in the destinations on our site and found passionate friends who also wanted to protect and preserve their beaches. With the help of proactive local communities and leaders, we launched our Beach.com Beach Cleanup program to raise awareness of ocean conservation and plastic pollution on a local level.
Now, it’s our goal to physically make a difference on the sands of every destination featured on Beach.com, so that future generations can enjoy endless beach days, too.
Gallery: Past Beach Cleanups
How You Can Help
It’s easy to feel like the plastic pollution problem the world is facing is insurmountable, but there are people all over the planet that care and are doing something about it. You don’t have to have millions of dollars or political influence to make a difference. Simply spreading awareness on social media and to your immediate friends and family makes a huge difference over a lifetime. If you’re passionate about helping save our oceans and raising awareness of plastic pollution, apply to become a Beach.com Ambassador. We’ll help you educate your community and host a beach cleanup on your local beach.
Host a Beach Cleanup
If you want to get hands-on and help with the plastic pollution in your area, host a beach cleanup! You can start small and do one with your friends and family, or use our guide on How to Host a Beach Cleanup if you want to host a large event. Many argue that beach cleanups do not make a difference since new trash washes up every day, but the real power in beach cleanups comes from educating the public and spreading awareness on how their individual plastic use effects the planet.
Reduce Personal Plastic Use & Waste
Single-use plastics like plastic bags, water bottles, straws and cutlery are some of the main contributors of trash in the ocean, even though using them is easily avoidable. If everyone changes their habits, like swapping for reusable bags and water bottles and saying no to straws, the need for single-use plastics will slowly decrease—along with their production.