Egypt seeks Guinness Records title with largest beaches cleanup campaign

19 / 09 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt seeks to obtain the Guinness Records title for launching the largest beaches cleanup campaign to mark the World Cleanup Day on September 18.

In a statement on Sunday, the Egyptian Environment Ministry said the campaign was launched in Alexandria in tandem with the Plastic Bank, Banlastic Egypt, GIG company alongside a number of civil society partners and the Alexandria governorate.

The campaign targeted cleaning up eight beaches at five kilometers long in addition to disseminating awareness among people about maritime waste and its impact on the environment and maritime creatures.

Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad commended the campaign as it contributes to protecting the environment, promoting the culture of taking care of maritime environment and raising awareness among beachgoers about the importance of keeping the beaches clean from all kinds of waste, especially plastic waste, in order to secure sustainable healthy environment.

More than 200 volunteers participated in the campaign which collected about one ton of plastic waste in nearly two hours. The collected waste will be sent to recycling plants.

The campaign goes in line with the strategy of the Plastic Bank which aims at reducing plastic waste in the River Nile and sea in addition to raising the community’s awareness about the importance of safe disposal of plastic waste to serve Egypt Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal 14 “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources”.

This also falls within the context of the bank’s efforts to expand its activities outside Cairo.

Plastic Bank seeks to reach seven governorates:

Amr El-Kady, Plastic Bank Regional Director for Egypt, Middle East and Africa, voiced proud of the achievement realized today by joining hands with various entities concerned with curbing plastic pollution in addition to promoting youth participation in the bank’s initiatives in order to serve its strategy aiming to expand to various Egyptian cities, raise awareness about the negative impact of plastic pollution, and draw up a mechanism for collecting and recycling waste.

He noted that the bank exists currently in four governorates namely Cairo, Kafr el Sheikh, Alexandria and South Sinai, adding that the bank seeks to reach seven governorates by the end of 2021.

The bank seeks to develop its plastic collection mechanism to collect 5,000 tons annually, he said, noting that this would secure more than 1,000 jobs within two years.

Egypt among 180 world states participating in fourth World Cleanup Day:

Egypt is among 180 world countries taking part in the World Cleanup Day in which about 50 million volunteers participated worldwide.

The World Cleanup Day is the largest single peacetime civic action against waste, aimed at raising awareness of the scale of the global waste crisis threatening the environment and the lives of millions of people and all living beings.

This is the fourth World Cleanup Day. In 2020, the World Cleanup Day witnessed the participation of 11 million people in 166 countries.

The World Cleanup Day is organized by Let’s Do It World, which is one of the largest environmental organizations in the World headquartered in Estonia. Let’s Do It World has member organizations with dedicated leaders in 164 countries.

The global coordination of World Cleanup Day 2021 is mainly funded by the Government of the Republic of Estonia.

“Today, despite the corona pandemic influencing the way we act, people have shown that they are deeply invested in the future of our home – we want a healthy and clean Earth. The mismanaged waste problem has worsened globally because of pandemics. Organizing and holding World Cleanup Day amidst a pandemic is a challenge. But the increasing plastic waste problem can no longer be pushed aside,” says Heidi Solba, the President and Head of global network of Let’s Do It World, coordinator of the World Cleanup Day events.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said “I am very proud to be the patron of the World Cleanup Day. We need to change the way we treat our planet, be more mindful of its resources, and preserve its biodiversity. Everyone and anyone can contribute to this.”