The City Police Sports Club (CEGUB) has been carrying out this activity since 2008. The aim is to highlight the fragile nature of our coastline and raise public awareness from an educational and ludic perspective. The initiative also corresponds to the sustainable development goals from the 2030 Agenda.
Yesterday and this morning saw the 13th edition of the sea floor cleaning initiative along the Barcelona coastline, organised by the diving section of the City Police Sports Club.
On this occasion, forty volunteers from the CEGUB and Vanas Dive centre (main collaborator) cleared four groynes at the beaches in Sant Martí. Thirty volunteers were divers, with ten others providing support from a boat and a quad from the Beach Unit, as well as various paddle boards.
The exercise cleaned the surface rocks at the groynes, using metre-long rubbish tongs, as well as the part underwater, where non-degradable waste accumulates such as plastic packaging, glass and drinks cans.
The divers clean the sea floor with their hands, picking up all the waste they find: rubbish thrown into the water from the groynes, the beach or boats, as well as objects which end up in the sea due to weather conditions or rainwater which flows into the sea.
The rubbish collected from each dive is classified, counted and weighed before being taken to the Green Point at the Fòrum. The result was roughly 600 kilos of rubbish, with waste such as nylon thread, wipes, plastic packaging of all types, bags, cans, glass bottles etc.
A second edition of the exercise is planned for the beaches in Ciutat Vella in September, at the end of the bathing season.