Today Alila Resort took a giant stride against underwater debris.

The Plastic Free Oceans event organised by Alila Manggis Resort and Zen Dive Bali, brought together more than 30 people in an united effort to clean up the big blue part of our Planet. Some of us went straight into the ocean with full scuba gear and relieved Alila's Artificial Reef, of some serious debris. A few snorkelers acted as surface support while the rest of the enthusiastic volunteer stayed dry and collected debris along the beach.

If in the previous sentence you made a pause at the mention of Alila's artificial reef and thought, wait what's Alila's Artificial Reef?! Alila Manggis Resort has made some serious effort to bring back the coral reefs in the nearby area. Along with some amazing assistance from Zen Dive Bali, the first step was today's Plastic Free Oceans clean-up event.

Apart from collecting debris we collected also precious data - what kind of debris exactly, how many kilograms - and this information is updated at www.projectaware.org debris map, for everyone to see and use. The purpose of collecting this data on debris is to give us indicators of pollution and help us reduce it. Well what did we find? That the main cause of pollution in this area was plastic.

So conclusion of the story - next time you go shopping, stop before you leave home and bring along some reusable bags, rather than taking the plastic bags at the grocery store. Remember, we clean our planet one step at a time and one dive at a time!