Plastic bottles, ropes from fishing nets, polystyrene, pieces of furniture, plastic bags and an array of micro plastics – just some of the items collected during a recent Lubmarine staff volunteer beach clean.
Members of the Lubmarine team gathered on Butin beach, a few kilometers from the town of Honfleur in Northwestern France, where they not only collected refuse sacks full of beach debris, but found out more about the rich biodiversity of the coast.
The clean-up day was organized by Total Lubmarine in conjunction with CPIE Vallée de l’Orne (Centre Permanent d’Initiatives pour l’Environnement) through their ‘Rivage Propre’ project which aims to promote respectful management of the coastal ecosystems in cooperation with local authorities.
It forms part of the TotalEnergies Foundation Employee Citizenship programme, encouraging and supporting employees to take part in initiatives like this in TotalEnergie’s locations around the world, devoting up to three days of their working time every year to citizenship initiatives.
“Not only was it an invaluable and rewarding day for us in terms of coming together for the beach clean, during which we filled six, 20-litre refuse sacks full of rubbish, but thanks to our guide Benjamin Potel from CPIE we were able to learn more about the delicate balance of biodiversity on the coast as well as the local wildlife and flora,” said Roodline Alphanor, Marketing Trainee for Lubmarine who organized the beach clean.
“It was incredible what an array of materials had been washed up on the beach and a real reflection of how modern life is impacting our natural environment, hitting home the need for us to play our part in helping protect it.
“Our guide also highlighted how important our hands are in the undertaking the cleaning process - more able to pick rubbish delicately from the shore, rather than mechanically when rubbish can be thrown away together with small animals, shells and seaweeds that are part of the local ecosystem,” added Roodline.