Team of 20 volunteers collect 50 tonnes of rubbish off beach

Fishermen, students and residents gather after fishermen cleared 50 tonnes of rubbish over a two-day period. They found clothes, shoes and even TV screens during the clean-up. Ruba Haza / The National

FUJAIRAH // A team of volunteers on Sunday collected 20 tonnes of rubbish that had been washed up on Merbeh beach by last week’s storm.

Fishermen, students and residents gathered after a fishermen’s organisation cleared 50 tonnes of rubbish from the sea over a two-day period.

Rehab Al Danhani, the organiser of the beach clean-up, came from Dibba to help.

“The residents know I care about the environment and that I have a team of 10 people that helps me in organising environmental campaigns and clean-up events,” said Ms Al Danhani.

“I visited the area and was shocked by the huge amount of rubbish that was left on the beach due to the flood.

“We found clothes, shoes, old TV screens, things that had been washed up from many houses. We didn’t collect only rubbish, we were also looking for personal documents that people lost during the flood.”

“The clean-up was promoted through social media and flyers. With the help of 50 volunteers, we managed to cover a 1 kilometre wide area and collect 20 tonnes of rubbish.”

Rashed Al Khalawi, a 32-year-old fisherman, said that if nobody came to collect all the rubbish, it would harm the marine life and the environment.

“We can’t leave these things in the water and on the beach, it will damage marine life,” Mr Al Khalawi said.

Fujairah Fishermen Association had also gathered over the past two days about 50 tonnes of rubbish out of the water.