Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Achievement
Report
February
2015
Objective:
Waste
Management
and
Awareness,
Protection
of
Marine
Ecosystems
Dive
Against
Debris
(http://www.projectaware.org/project/dive-against-debris)
is
an
initiative
set
up
by
PADI
Project
AWARE
in
response
to
one
of
the
most
detrimental
stressors
on
the
health
of
our
oceans.
Marine
pollution
is
a
growing
problem
with
an
estimated
10-20
million
tons
of
plastic
ending
up
in
the
ocean
each
year.
A
recent
study
estimated
that
5.25
trillion
plastic
particles
weighing
a
to-
tal
of
268,940
tons
are
currently
floating
in
the
worlds
oceans.
These
plastic
particle
and
waste
ma-
terials
kill
tens
of
thousands
of
marine
animals
and
seabirds
each
year
through
entanglement
and
digestion
and
continues
to
damage
entire
marine
ecosystems.
The
following
points
show
some
wor-
rying
statistics
from
WorldWatch
Institute
(www.worldwatch.org)
This
plastic
debris
results
in
an
estimated
$13
billion
a
year
in
losses
from
damage
to
marine
ecosystems,
including
financial
losses
to
fisheries
and
tourism
as
well
as
time
spent
cleaning
beaches.
In
Europe,
26
percent,
or
6.6
million
tons,
of
the
post-consumer
plastic
produced
in
2012
was
recycled,
while
36
percent
was
incinerated
for
energy
generation.
The
remaining
38
percent
of
post-consumer
plastics
in
Europe
went
to
landfills.
In
the
United
States,
only
9
percent
of
post-consumer
plastic
(2.8
million
tons)
was
recycled
in
2012.
The
remaining
32
million
tons
was
discarded.
Dive
Against
Debris
was
Created
by
divers
for
divers,
this
global,
underwater
survey
of
rubbish
is
designed
to
increase
debris
removal
efforts,
prevent
harm
to
marine
life
and
connect
your
underwater
actions
to
policy
changes
and
pre-
vention.
Data
reported
to
Project
AWARE
is
en-
tered
into
a
global
database
and
is
then
used
to
spread
awareness
of
marine
debris
and
used
to
support
development
and
implementation
of
pol-
icies
to
improve
solid
waste
management
at
all
levels.
GVI
Fiji
has
pledged
to
carry
out
3
Dives
Against
Debris
a
week
and
2
beach
cleans
a
month.
Vol-
unteers
also
plan
to
carry
out
beach
cleans
in
col-
laboration
with
local
youth
groups
on
neighbor-
ing
Moturiki.
Currently
on
Caqalai
we
have
completed
5
beach
cleans
and
2
in
Daku
(a
village
on
Motoriki)
col-
lecting
363.85kg
of
debris,
of
which
only
around
69kg
is
recyclable
in
Fiji.
In
the
debris
we
collect-
ed
476
plastic
bottles,
121
shoes,
2
engines
and
an
airline
food
tray.
GVI
Fijis
Community
base
in
Silana
village
on
Viti
Levu
has
also
started
running
regular
beach
cleans
involving
the
local
communi-
ty.
During
dives
against
debris
we
have
collected
19.4kg
of
debris,
most
of
which
is
glass
bottles.
GVI.2015.1
The
data
from
the
last
three
beach
cleans
is
presented
below,
it
shows
a
great
deal
of
the
debris
is
plastic
and
that
a
large
amount
of
it
could
have
been
recycled
instead
of
dumped.
All
the
debris
col-
lected
by
GVI
Fiji
is
either
recycled,
reused
or
disposed
of
correctly.
Graph
Key
Blue Plastic
Green Glass
Red Metal
Yellow
Cloth
Black
Paper
Paper
Other
Sacks
Net
Clothes
Other
Food tins
Cans
Aerosols
Batteries
Shoes
Jars
Bottles
Rope
Fragments
Net
Sacks
Food rappers
Foam
Food containers
Flooring
Plastic bags
Cigarette lighters
Bottle caps
Other bottles
340
320
300
280
260
240
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Drinks bottles
Categories of Debris
It
is
hoped
that
through
continued
concerted
efforts
by
GVI
volunteers
and
local
communities
the
volume
of
waste
collected
on
local
beach
cleans
will
reduce
over
time
and
that
greater
awareness
will
ensure
that
more
effort
is
made
to
dispose
of
rubbish
properly.
By
reporting
collection
infor-
mation
to
PADI
AWARE,
this
information
will
help
contribute
to
a
global
data
and
efforts
to
reduce
on
marine
pollution.
For more information on GVIs projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.co.uk
For more information on our global impact visit www.gviworld.com
To make a donation to our projects in Fiji please visit www.gvi.org for more details.
GVI.2015.1