The big beach clean-up campaign took place on September 20/21: From Surendorf to Laboe, schools, clubs and organizations collected, sorted, counted and weighed.

Munich/Kiel, June 23, 2024 – Around 35 km of coastline along the Baltic Sea were cleaned as part of the 39th International Coastal Cleanup Day. Equipped with garbage bags, buckets, tongs and gloves, the volunteers and helpers collected more than 500 kilograms of garbage on Friday and Saturday; the final evaluations are currently underway. Not only thousands of cigarette butts, plastic packaging, plastic film and bags, bottles and corks were once again the shocking yield of the hard-working collectors, but also shoes, textiles, mats, a wide variety of other waste and even hazardous waste such as batteries and rechargeable batteries.

The Washington-based NGO Ocean Conservancy coordinates this International Coastal Cleanup, which always takes place on the 3rd weekend in September, and summarizes the results of the global waste collection in an overall report.

“We hope that participation will be as high again next year when we call for the 40th International Coastal Cleanup on 19/20 September 2024,” emphasizes Dr. Harald Frank, project manager at One Earth – One Ocean. He continues: “Nevertheless, we can only make a limited contribution with these important and effective actions. Reducing marine litter requires, in particular, decisive political action and continuous environmental education campaigns.”

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants and our sponsor Stadtwerke Kiel AG, who made the campaigns financially possible.

About one earth – one ocean e. V. (oeoo)

The non-profit environmental organization one earth – one ocean e.V.(oeoo), based in Munich and with offices in Kiel, Battambang/Cambodia, Manila/Philippines and Rio/Brazil, has been pursuing the goal of ridding the world’s waters of plastic waste since 2011. The multi-stage “Maritime Waste Disposal” concept for eliminating coastal marine pollution caused by plastic waste envisages – in addition to processing land-based plastic waste – collecting the plastic from waters around the world using a fleet of special waste collection ships and then recycling it on recycling ships such as the SeeElefant. Projects to remove plastic waste from bodies of water are currently underway in Cambodia, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Uganda and Egypt. Specially designed waste collection ships called SeeHamster and SeeKuh are used for this purpose. From 2026, the first “SeeElefant”, a converted multi-purpose freighter that will have systems for sorting, shredding, processing and pressing marine waste on board, will be the first pilot system for a waste recycling ship. As soon as industrial-scale plastics-to-fuel plants are available, plastic will also be converted back into sulphur-free oil directly on board. The association is also involved nationally and internationally in research into microplastics as well as educational and awareness-raising work and documentation on the subject of marine litter. Back in 2013, oeoo won the prestigious GreenTec Award, Europe’s largest environmental and business prize, for its maritime waste collection concept. In 2019, the association received the Federal Ecodesign Award from the Federal Ministry for the Environment for its SeeElefant waste recycling ship concept. Further information about oeoo and its current projects can be found at www.oeoo.world.

Press contact
Dr. Harald Frank
Finance & Projects
Krausstr. 17, 24118 Kiel

+49 (0)176-30326723
harald.frank@drfrank-finance.com
www.drfrank-finance.com