On Saturday, February 27th, the Graëllsia Association, Environmental Studies and Communication Group, organized a beach cleanup at Santes Creus Beach.

This association signed a custody agreement with the Municipality of l'Ametlla de Mar in June 2018. The goal of this agreement is to carry out actions related to awareness-raising, environmental education, and conservation in the Cap de Santes Creus Natural Interest Area. This protected area in l'Ametlla de Mar is part of the Natura 2000 Network. It is unique for the presence of coastal lagoons, rare habitats in Catalonia today, as well as large seagrass meadows of posidonia. Since the agreement, the local association has been organizing periodic actions to involve the local community in its conservation.

For the second consecutive year, Graëllsia has received funding under the SEO-Birdlife "Libera" Project. This funding supports actions in this space related to waste in the natural environment. This year’s program is called "Connect with the Sea". The goal is to investigate which areas of the protected space have the most waste, the types of waste, their origin, etc. At the same time, the program focuses on prevention and raising awareness to encourage people to minimize their environmental impact and participate in its improvement.

Framed within this project was the cleanup of last Saturday. A group of 26 people of various ages, including children, cleaned the area of Santes Creus Beach. They collected 23 kg of waste (plus a wooden pallet that could not be weighed), among which plastic was the most common, as often happens. Once the waste was collected, it was sorted for recycling into different fractions and weighed. During the sorting, some interesting pieces of waste were selected to create two murals.

This action was organized by the local group "Platges Netes La Cala." The collected waste was also attached to tarps featuring drawings of a bass and an octopus. These murals were sent to the local school and high school. Once there, they were displayed and will serve for awareness-raising actions regarding the issue of waste among the students.

Photos: Graëllsia – Environmental Studies and Communication Group.

Text: Eli Bonfill.