MEPA has taken immediate steps to reduce beach pollution in many ways including but not limited to establishing beach caretakers. With the main objective of maintaining the cleanliness of beaches around the country, establishing a program for deploying Beach Caretakers was first launched on 16th September 2018 at Dadalla beach, Galle. In this program, a person from the area is assigned as a Beach Caretaker to look after a selected stretch of polluted beach (approximately 1 km in length) and he or she is entrusted with the responsibility of cleaning the beach regularly (approximately 2 hours per day) in order to continuously maintain the beach trash-free and he or she is paid for the service provided.
For fairness and to uplift the quality of poor residents in the area, we decided to get help from the Department of Samurdhi Development (DoSD) in the process of selecting a caretaker. The involvement of DoSD in this program confirms the poor people in the community are benefitted from this program since Beach Caretakers are selected from Samurdhi beneficiaries. After signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and Department of Samurdhi Development (DoSD), it was decided that DoSD undertakes the selection of Beach Caretakers and monitoring their service while MEPA undertakes the selection of polluted beaches, monitoring the duties of Beach Caretakers and making payments to Beach Caretakers for the service (beach cleaning) rendered by them.
As for the program, the beach caretakers are only responsible for collecting non-degradable waste. Recyclable waste, such as PET bottles, other plastics, glass, metals, etc. are handed over to collectors and recyclers. The rest of the collected waste is handed over to relevant Local Authorities for proper disposal.
We are proud to announce that currently, 122 Beach Caretakers are deployed for this service and MEPA aims to increase the number to 200 in near future, serving 200 polluted beaches around the island. Sooner than later all the beaches in the country will be pollution-free and a pleasant place to relax for everyone.
Beaches should be protected as those are valuable resources of nature which can be enjoyed by everyone with the unparalleled beauty and peace of mind they give In this context, we, MEPA, would like to invite the private sector too, to join this nationally important program through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds in agreement with MEPA.
A beautiful and peaceful beach, a paradise on earth we all wish to have.
