Effort: Kahuku Clean-Up

Spent the afternoon yesterday doing a clean-up along the secluded Kahuku coastline. Unlike Kailua with a huge build-up of micro-plastics in certain places, Kahuku sees a large amount of fishing nets and ropes, larger commercial fishing related plastics, dozens of plastic water bottles, buoys, and assorted plastic containers.

It is hard to realize the effects of using single-use water bottles or carelessly discarding something at sea until you spend time cleaning the beaches. It is tragic how much of this waste makes its way into the ocean and onto our shores. 

As there are no easy ways to haul out this trash I found creative ways to position it in hopes it would be picked up by neighbors, staff of James Campbell Wildlife Refuge, DLNR, etc. Whether on access roads where I had seen state owned trucks drive past or in the rough of the nearby golf course, fingers crossed that this rubbish is picked up soon. Either way, all items were moved far from the beach so it will be very unlikely that these items will be back in the sea any time soon.

If looking for an adventurous clean-up day, its hard to beat the raw beauty or seclusion of Kahuku. Grab a buddy or loved one, several bags to carry out as much as you can, and go have a wonderful day!

Mahalo, Al Smith