Over 5,000 Pounds of Debris Removed From Lānaʻi Shores

Photo courtesy: Love the SEA.

Scores of volunteers, as well as dozens of local non profits and businesses banded together to clean up “hard-to-reach” beaches on Lānaʻi.

“Roughly 5,500 pounds of plastic marine debris, rope and netting was bagged and brought to the harbor where all was loaded and shipped back to Maui. Love the SEAʻs executive director Campbell Farrell said in a press release.

Love the SEA is a local non-profit that organized the cleanup with Whalers Village, the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund, Parley for the Oceans, Sustainable Coastlines, Surfrider Foundation, as well as Pūlama Lānaʻi and Trash Pickers in Paradise.

Trilogy and Ocean Riders Maui provided round trip boat rides for volunteers from Maui.

Organizers say the materials collected from this clean up will be used to help educate visitors about the threats of marine debris to Hawaii’s Coastlines.

“We are at ground zero for plastic pollution in the ocean, receiving thousands of tons annually from all over the North Pacific as it drifts on currents to our shores,” HWF executive director Hannah Bernard added.

“While ultimately we must turn off the source of plastic waste, we have accepted responsibility to remove it from our beaches and stop it from killing wildlife.  But we cannot do it alone, we depend on help from all who care.”