13th Annual Lahaina Town Clean Up, Sept. 16

The 13th annual Lahaina Town Clean Up will take place on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. with participants to meet at Kamehameha Iki Park at 525 Front St. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

The cleanup is one of Hawai‘i’s largest and longest ongoing community cleanups. Last year, more than 500 volunteers participated in the Lahaina Town Clean Up, cleaning the Westside of Maui from Puamana to Māla Wharf and everywhere in‐between. The event has taken place for 12 years in collaboration with Mālama Maui Nui, the Hui O Waʻa Kaulua, and local surf schools and businesses making it not only one of the largest, but one of the most successful ongoing town cleanups in Hawaiʻi with over 2 tons of rubbish being collected to date.

The event takes place on the same day as the International Coastal Cleanup. In the past, nearly 12 million people have taken part of the worldwide volunteer effort to protect the ocean. Organizers with the event say plastic has been found in 62% if all sea birds and in 100% of sea turtle species.

The cleanup will start at 8:30 a.m. and last until noon. Lunch will be provided by Pacific’O from noon to 1 p.m. and will be limited to the first 300 volunteers.

Water will be sponsored by Tropical Water – Maui, organizers suggest bringing a water bottle from home, a pair of gloves and reef safe sunscreen.

Participants can download the Clean Swell App to keep track of the debris removed during cleanup. After the cleanup, the data will be added to the International Coastal Cleanup’s marine debris database. Results from the data help inform policy and debris removal efforts.

Lahaina Town Clean Up founder Matt Lane has challenged this year’s organizers to address prevention as a focus of the cleanup. “To work toward accomplishing this goal, we are partnering with the County of Maui to place an emphasis on prevention as a means to combat the issue of waste showing up in our oceans through our drains. Volunteers will be stenciling awareness messages of ‘No Dumping – Drains to Ocean’ at storm drain inlets in Lahaina,” said Ashley Roussel one of the event organizers and stencil project chairperson.

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