Do you know pollution on our beaches is real with billion tons of debris deposited on beaches that are harmful to us who use the beach and also an environmental hazard for the marine biodiversity that depends on it?
Nigeria Youth SDGs Network partnered with Trashusers, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority and Empower Plastic to remove about two hundred kilograms of plastic waste from Lafiaji Beach in Lekki, Lagos.
The event tagged Lagos Ocean Cleanup is a monthly event held every last Saturday of the month was carried out by fifty ocean activists passionate about ensuring that coastlines are clean and aquatic habitats are free from human debris that will impact their movement or even cause their death.
In Nigeria, open beaches are usually not well maintained and hence the need to have young people volunteer with the local communities to be aware of the need to clean up the ocean. These actions encourage more people to be ocean aware and encourage sustainability.
About 800 billion kilograms of plastic waste enter the oceans every year with more than 35 trillion kilograms of plastic produced each year. Scientists say that by 2050 the number of plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish, and there are already more than 5.25 trillion microplastics floating in the world’s seas. This pollution is an eyesore, degrading otherwise pristine environments, but it’s also causing immense harm to marine life.
