Concordia Maritime’s second coastal clean-up initiative in the Gothenburg archipelago attracted great interest. More than one hundred people came along to help pick up rubbish from the shoreline and filled numerous sacks to the brim. The event was organised by Concordia Maritime in collaboration with the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, and was supported by the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club (GKSS), the Swedish Sea Rescue Society and the Särö Seahawks Floorball Club. It is hoped that this initiative will draw attention to the environmental problems caused
by littering.
Plastic bags, all kinds of packaging, petrol cans, old fishing nets and ropes, and even shoes too, were some of the many items that the volunteers picked up around Långedrag harbour just outside of Gothenburg. Young people from the yacht club and floorball club, families with children, local residents and other interested individuals spent several hours enthusiastically collecting litter on a beautiful Saturday in spring. Hard plastic was sorted and separated from other waste to be used for the Ocean Project being run by the Swedish Sea Rescue Society in cooperation with Keep Sweden Tidy. This plastic is used to produce small sailing boats.
Marine litter is one of the biggest environmental problems of our time and some 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean each year – plastic that does not disappear. This has serious consequences for the marine environment, the living organisms that inhabit it, and for humans too. Andreas Fossberg, who works as a Project Manager at the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, gave a short presentation about this before the clean-up got under way.
“The purpose of this initiative is to raise awareness about the importance of keeping our oceans clean and also to remove debris from a stretch of the coastline. Thanks to the enthusiasm and commitment of all the participants at our clean-up day, we filled 180 bags and 20 sacks with rubbish. We hope that all those who took part in this event will help us to generate and spread more interest in keeping our oceans clean,” says Ola Helgesson from Concordia Maritime.
John Holmgren, GKSS, Ola Helgesson and Kim Ullman, Concordia Maritime.
Concordia Maritime initiated its partnership with Keep Sweden Tidy in April 2018 and organised the first coastal clean-up day last autumn. It also launched an online quiz aimed at spreading knowledge about plastic in the oceans and encouraging everyone to get involved in protecting our marine environment.
Link to the online quiz: https://www.litterquiz.se/ta-testet/
