Cerita Kami
BEACH CLEAN COLLABORATION: Sawfish Indonesia - School of EcoDiplomacy EcoNusa - Merauke Navy
Yunita Wakhida | 5 July 2021
Merauke – Lampu Satu Beach is one of the mainstay tourist destinations in Merauke, Papua. This beach offers a beautiful sunset that will spoil tourist eyes. In addition, the line of food vendors will be the right choice for those who want to hunt for culinary while enjoying the breeze around the beach
However, the increasing number of tourists and food vendors on this beach causes a lot of plastic waste and food waste to pollute the beach areas. As a tourist destination, good waste management is a very important aspect, both from the aesthetic aspect and from the health aspect. Moreover, Lampu Satu Beach is also a densely populated residential area. As a result, Lampu Satu Beach, which should have been a comfortable place, has lost its charm due to the large amount of garbage.
Therefore, to reduce the amount of garbage that scattered around the beach, Sawfish Indonesia together with members of School of EcoDiplomacy (SED) EcoNusa and help from members of the Merauke Navy (LANTAMAL) worked hand-in-hand to organize a beach clean-up in Lampu Satu Beach area on Saturday (December 19, 2020).
This beach cleaning activity starts in the morning at 07.00 WIT until 10.00 WIT. And continued at 14.00 WIT until 17.00 WIT. Armed with dozens of sacks and garbage bags, this group of young people swiftly combed every corner of Lampu Satu Beach and picked up all kinds of garbage along the beach.
In the cleaning that was carried out, many types of garbage were found. However, the most dominant type of waste is plastic waste such as food wrappers, drinks, and straws. Most of the plastic found were still in good condition, but some were already in a fragile condition and were slightly buried by beach sand. This shows that some of the plastic waste has just been thrown away and some already in the coastal area. However, this plastic waste will not be able to decompose even though it has become small granules commonly called microplastics which of course is very dangerous if it accumulates in the bodies of organisms.
The beach clean-up activities carried out by Sawfish Indonesia together with members of School of EcoDiplomacy (SED) EcoNusa and also members of the Merauke Navy will not be enough to tackle the waste problem in the Lampu Satu Beach area. Awareness of tourists, food vendors and local residents is the main key in maintaining cleanliness and comfort on this beach.
Lampu Satu Beach is beautiful with stunning views. But without awareness of all parties, this beauty will not last long. Therefore, let’s start to keep the environment clean from the simplest things like throwing garbage into the place and reducing single use plastic waste. Taking care of the environment is the same as taking care of yourself. Do it now!
