World Environment Day: Beach & Underwater Cleanup in Saronida, Greece

To celebrate World Environment Day 2023, we joined forces with the American College of Greece and Ghost Diving Greece for a fun event near Athens. Our aim was to raise awareness about the impact of the ghost fishing phenomenon and about plastic pollution overall, with this year’s World Environment Day being dedicated to “Beating Plastic Pollution.”

While students and families carried out a cleanup along the Saronida coast, 12 volunteer divers from Greece and the Netherlands removed debris from the sea in the surrounding area. Educational actitivies were organised for younger and older children, including “diver relay race” and microscopic identification of species.

“Greece is a country that enjoys a thriving environment. But we do have, as in many parts of the world, a lot of problems around the environment, the society and the economy. We participated in this big event to cleanup Saronida, which is very much needed as many other beaches, but very importantly, to educate,” said Panos Vlachopoulos, Vice President of Academic Affairs, ACG.

Healthy Seas would like to thank the Municipality of Saronic as well as our partner, Kuhne + Nagel, for supporting this event.