Here at NDS, we try our best to protect what we love by doing beach clean-ups, Dives Against Debris, promoting good buoyancy control, and reusing or recycling as much as possible. Our dive team can often be seen picking up trash on dives, and our students often follow suit.
Unfortunately, along our coastlines lots of debris can be found, and two of the biggest culprits are plastic bottles and cigarette butts. So this August we decided to see if we could make one debris problem help reduce another.
Our challenge: any single-use plastic bottles collected at our dive centre would be used to gather cigarette butts from the local beach, bay, roads and pavements.
CONTENTS:
- The debris issue
- Why we keep cleaning
- August challenge
- Progress so far
- End of August update
- How you can help
- What next
The debris issue
We're sure by now everyone is aware of the debris issue the world faces. An estimated 250 million tons of debris will make its way into our seas by 2025, so we need to act now. Debris is ugly, it ruins the look of our favourite areas and is costly to remove. Trash in our seas chokes marine life, entangles animals, and is a hazard to humans and wildlife alike. As divers we are in a unique position to actually see how much trash ends up on the seabed, and to witness first-hand the damage and destruction it can cause. This unique insight gives us the motivation and knowledge to do something about it.
Unfortunately it doesn't take long to find trash, and in our local bays we often see two big issues: plastic bottles and cigarette butts. We won't preach on the damaging effects of smoking, but we are more than happy to raise awareness that a cigarette butt thrown on the floor does not simply decompose, since they are made of plastic. As the filter starts to break apart, plastic fibres and toxins enter our oceans, causing pollution and breaking down into microplastics. They are damaging to our environment, yet somehow remain one of the last "socially acceptable" forms of littering.
Why we keep cleaning
It's a sad fact that after a clean-up, it won't be too long before more litter is discarded on the ground. So why do we keep cleaning? Simple: in the hope that our efforts make a difference and raise awareness. Imagine if every time we post about a clean-up, or someone sees us on the beach picking up litter, they decide to do the same. Raising awareness and making a small difference on every clean-up is enough to keep us going. We also know that every time we remove something from our sea or coastal areas, it's one less piece of trash in our marine environment. If we can raise awareness and make a physical difference at the same time, why wouldn't we keep cleaning?
We know from the "thank you" comments we receive from the public during clean-ups that we aren't the only ones who see the issue of debris, and we are proud to be a small part of the solution.
August challenge
Our challenge is simple: any plastic bottles collected at our dive centre during August would be used to gather cigarette butts from the local area. We encourage everyone to use reusable bottles, but understand that bottled water is widely used here in Malta. So we put those bottles to good use.
We also recorded every cigarette butt collected (yes, we counted each one!) using Clean Swell, a great app for documenting litter picks. This means that not only are we removing trash from our coastal areas, but we are providing data which can be used to help scientists and advocates around the world tackle ocean trash on a global scale.
Progress so far
16 days into August and we had already collected 16 bottles full of cigarette butts - a running total of 3,875 cigarettes collected from around our dive centre in St Paul's Bay. We hoped to at least double that figure by the end of the month. It's a sad fact that every day we found more, but at least there were 3,875 fewer pieces of trash that could make their way into the sea.
End of August update
Every day we headed out to our beach, bay and roads to collect cigarette butts using plastic bottles. As we got closer to the end of August we realised we were approaching 10,000, so that became our new goal.
What was great was that the more we collected, the less we found the next day. Instead of filling a bottle just on the walk to the sea, we had to hunt to find them. It really felt like the beach was a much cleaner place each day.
What we really loved was the reaction from the public. People regularly came up to us to thank us for cleaning up the beach, and we had lots of great conversations about why we were doing it. It's great to know that we aren't the only ones who want to help save our environment.
We have our collection of cigarette butts on display in the dive centre, and again the reaction from our divers has been wonderful. One family all asked for mesh bags for their next dive so they could also collect some trash along the way.
We logged every cigarette butt with Clean Swell, a great app from Ocean Conservancy, so the data can be saved and used to tackle trash at a global scale. With just 270 to go on our last clean-up to hit 10,000, that was our goal.
And we did it. 10,000 cigarette butts collected during August 2022 from around St Paul's Bay. That's 10,000 fewer pieces of trash that can end up in our sea. Hopefully a small difference made to our dive site, and more importantly, we hope we have raised awareness of the issue both locally and among visitors to Malta. We really believe every little bit helps, and we should protect what we love.
How you can help
Fill a plastic bottle with cigarette butts found in your local area and send us a picture on Facebook, Instagram or by email. It would be great to see how many bottles we can fill around the world.
What next?
Removing trash from our environment isn't something just for August - it's an ongoing mission. There are so many ways you can help protect what you love.
The PADI Dive Against Debris Specialty is a great course to learn how to remove trash safely from our oceans, and how to log the data with PADI AWARE so it can be used for policy changes. Make every dive a debris dive.
Having great buoyancy control in the water is a key element of protecting what you love. Our team can show you tips and tricks to improve your buoyancy and position in the water, so you can interact with the environment without needing to touch anything... except the debris as you remove it.
Or simply carry a mesh bag with you on every dive and pick up any trash you see. Every little bit helps.
Written by Susie