Sustainable Coastlines Hawai‘i hosts the largest, hands-on, and most engaging community beach cleanups across the islands. With a focus on fun and education, our goal is to take grass-roots action to inspire global change. Plastic Pollution is an overwhelming issue and with the help of thousands of volunteers, over half a million pounds of debris have been removed from our coastlines. However, what we’ve learned along the way is that cleaning can only do so much. It is not the solution; cleanups are the gateway to behavior change. After spending a couple of hours doing the hard work with the SCH crew, we know that you will never look at plastic the same.
Sustainable Coastlines Hawai’i cleanups are immersive, inspiring people to look deeper into the products they purchase and use on a daily basis. Together, we can turn off the tap to plastic pollution by changing how we consume and asking more from the businesses that provide us with goods and services. We’ll never ask you to be perfect at cleanups, just to take notice and be part of a community of positive change.
Are you a business looking for a team building or community service event? We can do that too. Your team is welcome to join us at any SCH large scale cleanup, or, we can organize a private cleanup event with you. Costs for these services vary by size, logistics, and menu options (interactive menu coming soon)
SCH Education Director will help you to organize a cleanup for your school or grade level.
Want to host your own cleanup? We’re building out a DIY resource page and are working towards finding a storage center to allow our community to check-out materials (Coming Fall 2020)
Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii’s Education program is solutions-based, interactive, and fun. Educators focus on defining marine debris, where it comes from, how it affects wildlife and people, and most importantly: what we can do about it. SCH empowers students to take immediate action in their everyday lives, and encourages getting their friends, family, schools, and community involved. SCH Education presentations are always free for schools.
Have a class that wants to take a deeper dive? SCH can facilitate workshops with small or large groups of students that include innovative educational games, art projects, and community/civic engagement.
Who: All student levels (preK-Graduate level), adults
Where: Our team will come to you!
Costs: No cost to schools; varies by event for businesses
Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii’s Education Delivery Vehicle is a sprinter van that has a drop-down TV in the back that we can conduct presentations out of. It allows you to bring your class on a “field trip” to an outdoor classroom. We recommend finding a nice big shady tree that we can park it under, or, we have a pop-up tent for shade. (Photos included on website).
There’s nothing like a hands on experience to ground students in their learning. Beach cleanups provide the opportunity for project/service-based learning, and allow students to get outside and explore parts of Hawaii they have yet to experience. Through organizing a school cleanup, students are able to connect the dots between the problem and proactive solutions to plastic pollution in the environment.
Who: Small and Large Groups
What: Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii brings supplies provides the following beach cleanup supplies
• sand sifters
• gloves
• feed bags for rubbish (reused from local farms/ranches)
• first aid kit
• educational materials
• refillable water jug
• 10x10 pop-up tent
• liability waiver form
Where: Our team will come to you!
Transportation: not provided
At Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii we want to keep as much plastic out of the incinerator and landfill as possible. With that in mind we have formed partnerships that work to UpCycle plastics that otherwise would be discarded. However, we are stead-fast in our messaging - the solution lies in turning off the tap on plastic at the source and upcycling cannot be an excuse to keep making plastic. Our vision is that all marine upcycling programs will have a 2050 Going out of Business Sale - meaning we have succeeded in not only removing all the plastic from our shore-line, but inspired a lifestyle where plastics never make it into the ocean in the first place.
SCH’s Ocean Plastics Program has recycled over 200,000 lbs of ocean plastic since 2011. Our work has expanded across the state and we now manage a network of partner organizations and individuals that collect ocean plastics off of Hawaii’s coastlines. We utilize this ocean plastic to raise awareness about the issue of plastic pollution.
Our Ocean Plastic Program started in 2011 with then partners Method Home, who made the first soap bottle out of Ocean Plastic and opened up a world of possibilities for innovation and inspiration. This partnership grew into the current relationship we now have with Parley for the Oceans. We continue to sort and store as much Ocean Plastic as possible to send to our partners at Parley for the Ocean instead of the landfill or incinerator. In 2020/21 we are working on strengthening this partnership and bringing technology to Hawaii that will stimulate new possibilities.
There is enough plastic already in the world for us to not need to be making more. Let’s turn the plastic washing ashore into a valuable resource to encourage removal vs. just walking over it.
