Earth Day Beach Clean-Up with Le Jardin

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash enter the ocean each year! While we are lucky to teach guests from around the world about Kailua Bay and share our beautiful waters, it is not without reminders of a problem we ourselves have created: plastic pollution.

This week on Earth Day, we had the privilege of collaborating with the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation to facilitate a beach clean-up for the students of Le Jardin Academy. For those unfamiliar with this organization, it was founded by local singer and surfer Jack Johnson, whose passion to protect our oceans inspires his lifestyle and music. (A couple of years ago, Jack Johnson wrote a song titled Fragments that speaks to our ocean plastic problem.)

Le Jardin has also done work in recent years to reduce their waste. In the spring of 2016, the school began to transition to a waste-free cafeteria with the help of students, the administration, and Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation’s Waste Reduction Coordinator, Doorae Shin. Although many of Le Jardin’s 10th grade class are from Hawaii or have lived here for many years now and are well-educated on sustainable practices and waste reduction, for some students it was their first beach clean-up.

To kick-off our day with the 10th graders, we gave them a tour of our facility at Kailua Beach Adventures. Although many students live in Kailua Town and are paddlers, some had never visited our shop. After sharing with these young adults who we are and what we do, Natalie McKinney, Executive Director of the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation led a talk to discuss what this plastic problem is, why it exists, and how we can begin to lessen our impact.

Natalie asked students, “Where does trash go when we throw it away?” and addressed this intangible place that we so often speak of our trash going. The answer for those of us in Hawaii is Indonesia.

She also discussed plastic’s origin - oil - as well as a major culprit and contributor of micro-plastics - single use water bottles. She shared the surprising fact that more water is used to produce a single plastic water bottle than the bottle itself can hold.

Students also learned that micro-plastics are classified as plastics smaller than 5 millimeters, or 0.2 inches, and most importantly perhaps, students learned about how to actively participate in legislative decisions regarding sustainable practices by submitting online testimony.

© Inspirimental

After the educational classroom piece, 60 students alongside KBA and Kōkua staff headed to a section of Kailua Beach with a high concentration of microplastics. By using our handheld sand sifters, students scattered along the shoreline and worked for an hour to collect a grand total of 50 pounds of microplastics. Well done, Le Jardin! Thank you for your hard work - keep it up. We at Kailua Beach Adventures, just like so many people in Hawaii, like to think that every day is Earth Day!

Drone footage by Kellie Spriggs. Check her out on Instagram!