There are three little islands in the middle of the Lembeh Strait (North Sulawesi, Indonesia). On the biggest one of them there is a tiny beach. Due to the South wind this time of the year rubbish - mainly plastic - unfortunately gets swept upon this small south facing beach. 

From the distance it did not look as much rubbish and we thought we would be done in about 20 minutes. But it turned out our rubbish bags and mesh bags we brought were not enough...

We collected about 600 small plastic water and other softdrink bottles, 150 large plastic water bottles, 300 glass-sizes water bottles, 100 styrofoam pieces, 6 plastic rice sacks, 1 rucksack, 5 flip-flops, 50m fishing line, 16 carton bowls, 11 pieces of wood, 34 paint cans, 14 food wrappers, 12 plactic bags. In total estimated 35kg of rubbish. As you can see from the photos, a whole boat load of rubbish!

We are glad this little beach looks like a piece of paradise again and this rubbish won't harm any of the marine anymals, birds etc. around anymore.

Please think about other options like taking your rubbish back home to dispose of properly and avoiding plastic in the first place. Refill bottles can be a starting point...

Anybody is welcome anytime to join us for a clean up dive or beach cleanup. Let's keep our waters and beaches clean.