Women take part in an event to clear garbage from Lampung bay in the Sukaraja village, Bandar Lampung on Feb 21, 2019. (Photo: AFP)Jakarta (VNA) – Hundreds of Indonesians came together to clean up a beachin Indonesia on February 21, contributing to raising public awareness of marinewaste in the country.
Some 200students, military personnel, and locals scoured a beach on the southern tip ofSumatra island, picking up heaps of plastic, discarded flip flops, and otherdebris.
In just overthree hours, the group collected 30 tonnes of rubbish from the coast in Lampungprovince.
The yearly campaign was first started in 2010after huge amounts of rubbish were found in the fishing nets of local fishermenwho made their living off the sea.
Other rubbish clearing campaigns have been launched across Indonesia, theworld's second-biggest contributor to marine debris after China.
In holiday hotspotBali, the problem has become so bad that officials declared a garbageemergency two years ago after a stretch of coast became swamped withrubbish.
Last year, a sperm whale was found dead in a marine park off Sulawesi islandwith 115 plastic cups and 25 plastic bags in its stomach.
The Indonesian government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 percentby 2025. –VNA
VNA
