Joining the East Coast Beach Plan ☀️
August 11, 2020Hey guys!
Today I finally got around joining the beach clean up in East Coast Park!
If you have been reading the news, there has been an insane amount of trash on our shores during monsoon season.
The government has ramped up cleaning efforts, but Singapore volunteers have stepped up too! Super heartening!
I first heard of the East Coast Beach Plan through my friend Rachel! She and her friends and family have been going to the beach for cleanups. The initiative also has a hashtag #5forSG55 where the challenge is to pick up 5 bags of trash for Singapore's 55th birthday.
I was keen to join last week, but I only had the time to do so this morning. I'm so glad I made it down! :)
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ECP Siglap Canal, 7.30am |
What I wore:
- Cap
- Short sleeve shirt
- Extra sleeves (my usual bike get-up, I'm in the sun a lot and I don't like my skin being scorched)
- Long exercise tights (because I heard that people got sandfly bites!)
- Covered shoes!!!
- old BBQ tongs
- old cloth gloves
- one regular black trash bag
- one large white plastic bag
- bottle of water
- sunglasses (didn't use it)
- hand sanitiser
- insect repellent
- tissue
TBH I prefer the smaller bag because it had handles and was stronger than the black rubbish bag, which tears quite easily.
What I collected:
- plastic bottles
- plastic cups
- packet water
- plastic toys
- bait
- masks
- lots of string, rafia
- plastic bags
- sacks
- indomie, instant noodle packaging
- more food and drink packaging (chocolate wafers, cookies, ice cream)
- watermelon rinds
- orange peels
- bits of styrofoam and plastic
- straws
- cigarette butts
- yellow toothbrush (I laughed)
- detergent packets
- sanitary pad packaging
- shoes and slippers
- beauty sheet mask packaging
- diaper
etc
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Of course, please tie up your trash bags when you're done |
- Though there's a lot of trash, I find this monsoon to be a blessing in disguise because it gives us a chance to reach and clear these rubbish that are usually not accessible!
- I feel really humbled. You can pick trash for the whole morning and there will still be a whole stretch full of litter.
- Every small piece of rubbish I pick up, I feel thankful because it will no longer be in the sea. I feel useful! Haha. This thought kept me going - it can be very overwhelming to face a beach full of trash. You may feel a bit defeated so it's important to stay positive!
The story where a boy saves the starfish by throwing them into the sea one by one really came to mind. The old man told him, " I'm afraid you won't make much of a difference", and the boy replied, " But I can save this one...this one... and this one!"
Though we may not make HUGE progress overnight, little incremental efforts help! (Read: Atomic Habits - we only need to be 1% better than yesterday.)
Resources for you:
Telegram: t.me/eastcoastbeachplan
(They also have a Telegram bot! How cool)
Hashtags on IG: #5forSG55 #eastcoastbeachplan
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