Volunteers clean up Sugar Beach during annual Hands Across the Sand event

The Surfrider Foundation – Maui Chapter hosted a beach cleanup and Hands Across the Sand event at Maui’s Sugar Beach on Saturday.

Dozens of local residents and visitors volunteered at the event and filled a 10 cubic yard dumpster in less than three hours, with trash that was formerly strewn along the beach. 

“We are grateful to the volunteers and Surfrider Foundation for cleaning up Sugar Beach and making Maui a better place,” said Timothy Lara of Hawaiian Paddle Sports, who sponsored the event. “It’s always eye-opening to see how much trash and debris is left along the shoreline. We are optimistic that events like these will motivate people to act responsibly and help drive environmental policy as well.”   

The most common items picked up during the cleanup were cigarette butts (494), plastic fragments smaller than a dime (163), foam fragments larger than a dime (120), plastic fragments larger than a dime (103), paper napkins (95), plastic beverage bottles (69), foam fragments smaller than a dime (68), plastic bottle caps and rings (49), glass fragments (47), and plastic food wrappers (47). Larger items such as car parts, tires, and lawn chairs were also found. 

The Hands Across the Sand is an annual, global event that took place at over 100 locations around the world on the same day to embrace clean energy on a local, national and global level.

“The message is simple: no to dirty fuels and yes to clean energy,” event organizers said. “These gatherings drew metaphorical and actual lines in the sand; human lines in the sand against the threat of dirty fuels.”

The Maui event was sponsored by Hawaiian Paddle Sports as part of its monthly Mālama Maui community give back program. 

To learn more about upcoming Surfrider Maui beach cleanups and other ways to volunteer with the chapter, visit maui.surfrider.org.