Working hand in hand for clean beaches

Bali: The island known as a vacationers' paradise is facing the task of coping with increasing quantities of plastic waste on its wonderful beaches. Together with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and SISTEMIQ, BeachTech recently participated in a beach cleaning campaign in Jembrana, on the northwestern shore of Bali.

Clean beaches as a common goal
The beach cleaning campaign in Jembrana took about four weeks. It was organized and implemented by the Project STOP initiative. Borealis and SYSTEMIQ launched the project in 2017. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Nestlé and other partners support it. About 300 volunteers, local politicians and government representatives participated in the beach cleaning campaign. The diligent helpers were supported by a BeachTech 2000, which had been transported directly from Laupheim to the beach in Bali.

The formula for success: A combination of manual and mechanized beach cleaning
The campaign demonstrated once more that manual and mechanized beach cleaning are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, thanks to the deployment of a beach cleaning machine, the volunteer helpers do not come into contact with contaminated waste. The laborious collection of small parts that can be barely grabbed by hand is made redundant. For instance, BeachTech collects cigarette butts, plastic pellets and broken glass without causing any problems. The beach cleaners even suction waste from below the sand surface. A BeachTech 2000 cleans an area of approximately three soccer fields in an hour and is thus a powerful supplement to the local manpower.

The path toward a clean future
Campaigns like this are most effective if there are many copycat versions. Project STOP has the goal of implementing comprehensive, economically sustainable, closed-loop waste management systems in areas with a high amount of plastic waste.

Toby Manners from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste sees great potential for the future: "Large corporate groups and companies have many opportunities to take part. BeachTech machines are fantastic, and there are many more beaches to be cleaned than one vehicle or even ten vehicles could manage. Campaigns like this increase awareness of sustainable waste management in the local population. If we succeed in implementing this, we have made a big step forward."