HANALEI — There’s nothing more powerful than acts of goodness that benefit both people and the environment.
On Sunday, pro surfer Sebastian “Seabass” Zietz and organizers achieved just that through the Islandwide Beach Cleanup. Seabass and his wife Krisy Zietz coordinated three beach cleanup efforts in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation and World Surf League Pure at Pine Trees, Anahola, and Rock Quarry.
A volunteer at Pine Trees, Andrew Vastola, didn’t hold back. He tasked himself with shredding through the largest debris he could find with a chain saw.
“It’s amazing how the community is here, everyone is here,” he said.
The effort to clean and beautify beaches across Kauai helped to address the need to collect and dispose of plastics and debris piled up on shorelines following disastrous flooding resulting from record-breaking rainfall on April 14 and 15.
“The community really stepped up to the plate,” said Scott Fares, volunteer booth and education coordinator. “This is the first time that we had three events simultaneously. We were oversubscribed the amount of people and it went off without a hitch.”
Volunteers cleaned the beaches using burlap bags instead of plastic bags to help reduce environmental impact. While promoting the beach cleanup, people were encouraged to join in cleaning up beaches near their homes.
Many did.
At the end of the day, 90 people volunteered at Pine Trees and filled 30 burlap sacks with materials from the shoreline. Altogether, at least 900 pounds of plastic and 2,000 pounds of sticks and large pieces of debris were collected at the beach.
At Rock Quarry beach in Kilauea, Surfrider Kauai Chapter Chair Barbara Wiedner said 120 volunteers helped out, collecting 1,400 pounds of marine debris altogether.
Meanwhile at Anahola Beach, 70 people turned out, where 600 pounds of nets and 200 pounds of plastic marine debris was gathered.
Overall, it was a successful beach cleanup both volunteers and organizers agreed, and it was a feel-good event for everyone involved.
“The turnout today showed how the community came out,” said Laura Scher said. “It was super fun.”
Wiedner was impressed not just with the efforts from volunteers but also with the show of kindness at Rock Quarry.
“There was even a guy who cooked up curry on the beach and served it to everyone,” she said. “There was lots of love. Lots of ohana.”
