Mega Beach Cleanup by Old Royalists of ‘Group of 2004’ at Uswetakeiyawa

Royal College ‘Group of 2004’ organised a Mega Beach Cleanup at Uswetakeiyawa recently.

About 200 Old Royalists of ‘Group of 2004’ gathered at Uswetakeiyawa for a beach cleanup, where they collected nearly 1,000 kg worth of litter that included various plastic materials, foam pieces, glass bottles, and food packaging wraps, which otherwise would have been washed into the sea, adding to the already critical pollution problem devastating the world’s oceans.

The event was organised by the Centre for Beach Cleanups and University of Kelaniya in collaboration with Royal College, Group of 2004, joining communities and corporates being a part cleaning up 0.2km of beach stretch along from its centre.

These cleanup sites were chosen because of the high concentration of beachgoers and notorious reputations for post-holiday trash.

Chameera Laknath, an Old Royalist and the President of Royal College, Group of 2004, who has played an important role in organising this joint Beach Cleanup Program with the main organisers said: “The Royal College, Group of 2004 celebrates its 20th anniversary in year 2024, and after harvesting the youthful energy of young Alumni for the development of the school, we felt obliged as a responsible citizen who are always keen to pay a special contribution to any movement that seeks to protect the environment, and that’s the kind of mentally we inherited from our Alma Mater. Therefore, primarily we aim to uplift the value of the ocean by hosting environmental awareness programs that propel and advance sustainability in our marine communities.”

Royal College ‘Group of 2004’ said unclean beaches not only affect rural populations around the area but has a significant impact on life below water too. One of the biggest reasons for the loss of marine ecosystems is land based human influenced industrial, agricultural and urban pollution. 

Uswetakeiyawa Beach is in the 167th place out of 235 beaches in the Sri Lanka. It is a crystal turquoise water and bright sand and rocks cover. The clean-up effort of the volunteers of Royal College, Group of 2004 was focused on the beach stretch along the Uswetakeiyawa area. 

Special coordination and logistics arrangements for this Mega Beach Cleanup Project were provided by Royal College ‘Group of 2004’Vice President Kasun Dissanayake. “Knowing the impacts of the rubbish on our beaches, my intention of organising a beach clean-up was to gather important data on the types of trash that pollutes the shoreline. As it is inevitable to eliminate plastic trash entering the beach. However, identifying the most common and harmful debris items ensures that environmental groups can find ways to stop them from entering the oceans or being littered on beaches. Data-driven strategies can be developed to mitigate the number of plastics entering our waters,” said Dissanayake.