Sandrina RodriguesAfter collecting 140 kg of waste, in 1h20 min on 300 meters of coastline in March at Ponta dos Caetanos, we were looking forward to go back and continue what we started.
Last Saturday was the day! We wanted to contribute once more to clean our Earth, like we actually do whenever we can but as we couldn’t commemorate the World Earth Day the 22nd of April because of the storm Lola, we waited until the weather finally gave us the possibility to accomplish this much desired return.
created by dji camera
The collaboration of 11 local people, three children and 29 Futurismo’s staff members, made a total of 43 participants, which joined hands and helped taking care of our island and our ocean.
The clean-up took place in two separated areas, covering more than one kilometer of coast in two different districts: Zona Balnear do Cruzeiro, in Lagoa, and Ponta dos Caetanos, in Ponta Delgada. After 1h 40 min picking up a huge variety of man made left overs trapped between rocks and plants, the team managed to collect a total of 353kg of trash!
created by dji camera created by dji camera 
We separated the litter in categories: 140,7 kg of plastic and metal; 145,8 kg of glass and 66,5 kg of undifferentiated material. We found lots of fishing gears (mostly fishing lines and ropes) and local rubbish (like plastic bottles, shoe soles, plastic bags, juice and chips packages). Unfortunately, lots of debris could not be taken because it was trapped under heavy rocks. But it was not all trash what we found, quite a few dead animals too like Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis), some crabs and birds.
All the separately collected materials were weighed and registered, in order to contribute to the monitoring of dumped or washed ashore waste on the Azorean coastline for the project Life IP Azores Natura, which aims to implement the regional Prioritized Framework Program for Natura 2000. Again, this clean-up shows us the urgent need to change our everyday habits, and the imperative to reduce, reuse and recycle everything we use.
It is so important to take care of our environment and promote pro-environmental habits. What does this mean in plain language: We can always choose between different options and often it starts with consciousness. So rethink if you really need something like a plastic bag in the supermarket or single used items like bottles or straws or can you plan ahead and prepare yourself with an alternative like multi-use packages.
If you choose the best option for our planet it will be the best option for you as we are all connected and rely on each others. In the name of Mother Earth and all life on it sincere thanks are given to all the participants, specially to the locals that chose to take action! Also, many thanks to the municipality of Ponta Delgada and Lagoa who picked up plenty of bags we collected. All for one, one for all! All together for our only Earth, one earth for us all! Together we make our future bright.
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
