The facts have been in front of us for a while now, and it’s time to take action. According to several studies and articles published in the past couple of years, Kuwait continues to rank as one of the top countries in the world in pollution, and it is getting worse. Cue Trashtag, an inspiring initiative which kickstarted at the end of April in 2019 and is growing stronger every week!
Trashtag is a non-profit organization that is committed to fighting negative environmental impacts of marine litter and waste pollution in Kuwait. It started from a simple hashtag that spread globally. As one of the co-founders, Carina Maceira, explained “[The hashtag] was trending, it was a bunch of people that were going to different locations that were really littered. They were picking it up and taking before and after photos, then it became a challenge and our co-founder, Yousif Al- Shatti decided that everyone is doing it. Let’s get Kuwait mobilized, let’s get Kuwait in doing this.”
That’s when Trashtag organized their first cleanup which was at the same location where we first met them, Sulaibekhat beach. The cleanups are organized on a weekly basis and are based on the most littered areas. Every week, Trashtag shares a post on their social media with information on the meeting point for any volunteers willing to join the cleanup and help out as much as they can. The meeting point can also be a new location or one that requires a re-visit. The Trashtag team makes it even easier by providing all the necessary tools. All we had to do is bring our own reusable water bottles and a few friends.
When we first arrived at Sulaibekhat beach, we already spotted a couple of people who were picking up the litter. One of them was Nada, a regular volunteer with Trashtag, and is someone who actually carries trash bags in her own car at all times. She says “I can’t stand coming to beautiful places such as this beach that has the most amazing view and find it extremely littered.” Sulaibekhat beach is known for its mesmerizing grounds, as the flamingos were right ahead of our viewpoint, we couldn’t help but feel the same as Nada.
For their first cleanup, less than a dozen people showed up. For their second cleanup, the initiative attracted almost 30 people. “Now we have well over 200 volunteers,” says Carina, “and we have around 60 regulars. Each cleanup has around 60 to 90 people, I’d say.” From what we saw, the number of volunteers keeps on growing. Not only that, but Trashtag are already breaking their own record on the amount of trash bags they have collected, as Carina shares “We already crushed the 1000, thankfully. We’re almost at 2000 now so that’s awesome.”
The recent visit from The Duke of Cambridge himself, Prince William, shed a huge light on the initiative as well. The founders had the pleasure to discuss some of the environmental issues that are caused by the mismanagement of waste and plastic pollution with him personally. Carina says that “It was surreal, it was really encouraging to see someone who has nothing to do essentially with Kuwait’s pollution problem, and has nothing to do with what’s going on here [be] so invested and genuinely concerned about the issue that we’re facing. And intrigued as to how we’re doing, how we started, and everything that’s been going on.”
With the amount of collected trash bags clearly growing, along with the number of volunteers and weekly cleanup meeting points, Trashtag is showing us a future that is slightly brighter and more hopeful than the one we are anticipating. It’s time to take action, and it is now or never.
For more information and updates on weekly cleanups, follow @trashtagkuwait on Instagram. Images taken by bazaar Studios.
