Solomon Airlines staff champion a hands-on coastal clean up effort

Many hands make light work as shown by staff from Solomon Airlines, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment, Travel Solomons, and Tourism Solomons today.

The professional colleagues joined forces at Eden Bay, Kakabona this morning to participate in an awareness and clean-up campaign to mark the ‘2022 International Coastal Clean-Up Day’.

International Coastal Clean-up Day began more than 30 years ago when communities worldwide rallied together with the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering their coastlines. Today communities in over 100 countries participate in the campaign.

At Eden Bay, starting at 8am, about 50 Solomon Islands volunteers assembled to first hear an educational talk by representatives of the Unit of Environment and Conservation, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, and Tourism Solomons. They then participated in a one-hour collection of debris and microplastics from Eden Beach to Lela Beach.

“At Solomon Airlines we are very active in social responsibility, and our staff willingly join in many community-based activities throughout the year,“ said Monica Utukana, Manager Human Resources.

“We also have an ongoing involvement with Nufuels Ltd, a New Zealand-based clean technology company, and the Design & Technology Centre at Lunga, to produce renewal energy from plastic waste,” she added.

“Together we encourage the clean-up of plastics and other environmentally harmful waste from the Solomon Islands environment and support local communities in sustainable environmental energy projects.

“Part of that is working with communities and corporate partners to continue creating awareness and to organise regular environmental clean-ups to remove rubbish and plastics from our surroundings, waterways, and coastlines. 

“We are proud to do our part and to encourage others to do the same.”