How many times have we gone to the beach, laid down our towels, and found a cigarette butt in the sand? Or, while walking along the boardwalks, come across a plastic bottle? Whether they ended up there by accident, carelessness, or intentionally, one thing is clear - trash does not belong on the beach.

From plastic and glass bottles to nets, cigarette butts, hooks, fishing equipment, and tires, unfortunately, you can find a bit of everything on our beaches. To fight this problem, in this 4th Edition of CleanUp Aveiro, we partnered with F.Fonseca, an industrial automation company from our region, for a Beach Cleanup Campaign at Praia da Costinha, in the Municipality of Ílhavo.

On June 1st, early in the morning, we met with about 35 employees of F.Fonseca. After a short walk, we arrived at the starting point for the cleanup, the beach near the old water treatment facilities. To motivate and energize the employees and their families, we started the activity with some team-building exercises - a series of games to develop communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. Since it was Children's Day, we also had a small activity for the kids, “Microcosmos,” which challenged them to find microplastics in the sand.

With the team full of energy, we embarked on our campaign - a journey of about 1500 meters along the beach. Avoiding the wave break area for safety reasons and the dunes to prevent trampling and degradation, we covered an area of about 16 hectares, equivalent to 23 football fields. Along the way, we stopped at "Collection Points" where participants could leave the bags they had already filled with our volunteers and pick up empty bags. It was also an opportunity to catch our breath and rehydrate, as the day was exceptionally hot.

In total, we collected 553 kg of waste, from plastic and glass bottles to ropes, octopus traps, pallets, and even a refrigerator door and a helmet. Most of the waste was brought in by the tide and will no longer pollute our beach. The trash was stored and, thanks to the help of Mr. Mário, a local resident, was transported by tractor to a location where it could be collected by the waste management company.

Besides a cleaner beach, we ended the day with a sense of accomplishment. Tired but with a rewarding feeling for having done something truly useful, we hope this initiative will be repeated more and more.

According to Catarina Mota, Human Resources and Training Technician at F.Fonseca, this was:

A fun, yet extremely serious activity! The CleanUp Aveiro team is to be congratulated for the dedication, professionalism, and enthusiasm with which they manage these initiatives! To be repeated!

CleanUp Aveiro brings together the efforts of the community - individual citizens, associations, companies, and other entities - around a common goal: to make our streets, forests, and beaches cleaner places. This is just one of the activities we are developing within the project, with cigarette butt collections taking place all over the city and region, thanks to the collaboration with the Escola Profissional de Aveiro and the Dr. Mário Sacramento and José Estêvão school groups.

Through these cleaning actions in the streets, forests, rivers, and beaches of the region, with active participation from everyone, we combat the community's disinterest and indifference and make our planet a cleaner place!

CleanUp Aveiro is organized by Agora Aveiro in collaboration with Escola Profissional de Aveiro. It has F.Fonseca as its "Main Partner" and JR Mudanças and Forum Aveiro as "Silver Partners." It is done in partnership with the Dr. Mário Sacramento School Group, the José Estêvão School Group, Rede Biatakí, and the São Bernardo Tennis School. It is supported by the Municipality of Aveiro and IPDJ - Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth, I.P.