Hundreds of resident and visitor volunteers collected literally tons of rubbish during the 13th annual Lahaina Town Clean Up. More than 300 volunteers including school groups, civic clubs and local businesses spent the day on Saturday, Sept. 16 cleaning up Lahaina streets, harbors and beaches from Puamana to the Mala Boat Ramp.
After the event, Maui Disposal reveled that six tons of materials were collected during the environmental clean up.
The Lahaina Town Clean Up event was supported by Malama Maui Nui’s “Get the Drift and Bag It!” campaign, in conjunction with The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean Up Day. The Lahaina clean up was one of several island events honoring the International Coastal Clean Up, which kicks off annually on the third Saturday of September. The ICC engages hundreds of thousands of volunteers each year to take action for the ocean and for the creatures that depend on it – including humans.
“This event would not be possible first without the amazing volunteers, and second without the backing of our business sponsors who support this event and come back year after year,” said Tambara Garrick, who sits on the Board of Directors for LahainaTown Action Committee and served on the event planning committee, “We are so grateful for both the monetary and in‐kind donations that allowed us to create an event that not only had a big impact but was also a lot of fun.”
In addition to the cleanup, student volunteers from Lahainaluna High School stenciled six storm drain inlets in Lahaina with the awareness message of “No Dumping–Drains to Ocean.” The stenciling project was in partnership with the County of Maui to help people be mindful of how their actions on land can affect stream and ocean health.
“It was so great to get the students and their advisor from Lahainaluna High School involved with this stenciling project,” said Ashley Roussel, one of the event organizers, “The students got the chance to get involved and feel a sense of pride in their efforts to protect the area that they love to swim and surf.”
Event organizers Roussel, Garrick, Matt Lane and Kristen McFarland say they’re already making plans for the 14th annual Lahaina Town Clean Up to be held in September 2018 and look forward to the community’s continued involvement.
Photo courtesy Tambara Garrick
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