Dubai: Items which should be in landfills — discarded car tyres, a toilet seat, flip flops, and lots and lots of plastic bottles — were recovered from the shores of Dubai and underwater near the Skydive Dubai Dropzone near Palm Jumeirah on Saturday for the second World Underwater Clean-up Day.
Some 31 licensed underwater divers and 40 non-divers discovered early morning Saturday that the beach proved a convenient dumping ground for trash by some residents.
The clean-up team, composed of officials from Skydive Dubai, Dubai Municipality, Fazza Marine, and Pavilion Dive Centre, started at 6am to clean up the beach and underwater area. At least 50 sacks of litter were collected and brought for recycling after the event.
The clean-up was held simultaneously in more than 80 countries across the globe to clean all types of water debris from seas, lakes, and rivers. The initiative also aims to enter the record books for the Most Participants in an Underwater Clean-up in Multiple Venues for the Guinness World Records.
“People need to be made aware of the damage trash does not just to the environment but also to marine life,” Alan Gayton, operations manager of Skydive Dubai, told Gulf News, referring to marine life such as sea turtles that die due to ingesting plastic, mistaking it for food.
Much of the trash collected on Saturday had most probably come from the beach and boat users near the area, Gayton said.
Elena Lokatskaya, Assistant Manager of Pavilion Dive Centre, told Gulf News the most unusual trash they found was “lots of rubber flip flops” or slippers. Although nine months pregnant, Lokatskaya participated in the on-shore clean-up drive to stress the fact that the future of our oceans depends on what we do today.
“We can make a difference today for a better tomorrow. No matter where we’re from, who we are, we all need to work together in protecting the ecosystem,” Lokatskaya said.
The clean-up teams covered two areas—the Logo Island with a depth of seven to nine metres and an area of 57.4 metres, and Skydive Dubai Jetty with a depth of two to five metres.
