This week, Dubai beach club Zero Gravity ran its monthly clean-up in Jumeirah Beach Residence. The litter-picking operation took place on Sunday, September 1, with volunteers turning out to help tidy the sandy stretch, under the club's We Love Our Beach programme.
Forty volunteers collected 22 bags of waste between then, according to Zero Gravity.
Click through the gallery above to see photos of the Zero Gravity volunteers at work.
In those 22 bags were 37 kilograms of plastic. The waste picked up included cigarette butts, plastic straws, bags, Styrofoam balls and plastic zip ties, all of which had been left in the sand or was found floating along the shore. A group of volunteer divers also went out from Zero Gravity to carry out an underwater clean-up.
Peter Skudutis, the general manager at Zero Gravity, said: "We are taking a strong stand on this environmental issue by cutting down on single-use plastic.
"We’ve all seen horrifying videos of oceans filled with plastic which, without a doubt, harms marine life, birds, animals and eventually impacts the food chain as well as our health."
"The hospitality industry uses a huge amount of single-use plastic every day and it needs to stop," he said.
"We need to find alternatives, where possible, and make changes now. We encourage other venues, companies, and individuals to join us and say no to single-use plastic."
In recent months, Zero Gravity eliminated single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery and plates in the club and replaced them with biodegradable alternatives.
Zero Gravity's We Love Our Beach clean-up takes place monthly. Check 0-gravity.ae for details
