Why set up Seven Clean Seas?
We founded Seven Clean Seas in July 2018, as we wanted to scale up our own beach cleaning activities. We are huge beach and sea lovers and always collect plastic when we are out and about on our adventures. Every little bit helps, but we realised that if we created a movement locally and promoted it, we could pull together a lot of like-minded people to help us and really make a difference.
How has the journey been so far?
Incredible. The reception we’ve had from the public is amazing and it’s unbelievable how many people want to fight for this cause. We’ve experienced very rapid growth in attendees and the quantity of plastic we are removing is growing exponentially with every clean up. To date we’ve removed over 15,000kg of plastic from Singapore’s beaches!
What are your goals?
Short term, keep growing. It’s amazing what we‘ve achieved so far but the scale of the issue is gargantuan. There are over 8 million metric tons of plastic flowing into the oceans every year and this is only set to increase. We hope to leverage the power of social media to show people the scale of what we are collecting, and further educate them on the issue.
Longer term, we would like to make Seven Clean Seas an international movement, and really focus on education. Unless people can understand the repercussions of irresponsible plastic usage and disposal methods, they won’t change.
How can people in Singapore get involved?
Our beach clean ups are monthly, so check out our Facebook page (facebook.com/sevencleanseas) give us a like, and come along to one of them. It’s a great experience and is suitable for all ages. Beyond this, we are now trying to get into some fairs and festivals to help spread the word, so keep an eye out for us in 2019.
Can kids help out?
Yes! It’s super fun for kids. Families that have attended so far really love it and many of them keep coming back. It’s also really rewarding to hear that it’s had a positive effect on the plastic decisions they are making in day-to-day life.
Can we really fight back against the tide of plastic and rubbish in our oceans?
Yes we can! It’s going to be one hell of a challenge but humans are capable of great feats when we work together. It all starts with education on the issue, and then individuals need to actively make alternative, responsible decisions on a daily basis. At the same time, organisations like Seven Clean Seas will continue to physically remove as much plastic and garbage as we can from the oceans themselves. Hopefully one day in the not so distant future… we can turn the tide!
Plastic facts:
- About eight million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. Of those, 236,000 tons are micro plastics – tiny pieces of broken-down plastic, smaller than your little fingernail.
- There are five massive patches of plastic in the oceans around the world. These huge concentrations of plastic debris cover large swathes of the ocean; the one between California and Hawaii is the size of the state of Texas.
- Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans.
- The amount of plastic in the ocean is set to increase tenfold by 2020.
- By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (by weight)
Plastic is found in the ocean as far as 11km deep, meaning synthetic fibres have contaminated even the most remote places on Earth.
