Clean beaches

Some of the beaches are just plain dirty. Garbage seems to be everywhere and is causing a serious threat to the general health of those living near the beaches. LEO Project Foundation and the local community need your help getting these beaches clean again.

Why are dirty beaches such a problem?

The last thing you wish to see on your beach holiday is a beach full with litter. Unfortunately some beaches in Sri Lanka will get you exactly that. Beaches heavily polluted with glass, plastic bags, bottles, coconut shells, torn shoes, you name it.

Still people need to use this beach. For some it is the only way to get their fishing boats out, for others it is one of the few places to come to the sea for recreation.

A serious threat to all

Polluted beaches pose a serious health threat to the local population. The rubbish is an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus and other diseases. The rats, stray dogs, cats, flies, maggots etc don’t help either.

Rubbish kills, and not only humans. Turtles, fish, birds, dolphins, seals and other marine mammals have all fallen victim to rubbish. Plastic being one of the worst killers. Most animals are muzzled by rubbish; others mistake it for food, eat it and die.

Also tourism, local and foreign, is affected badly by dirty beaches. A beach full of rubbish is one empty with tourists. Tourism is important to the local economy being one of the few sources of income.

The project objective

The LEO Project Foundation’s objective is straight forward: permanent clean beaches throughout Sri Lanka, driven by the local population, local business and local government.
This is an exceptional project as it is not initialized by the local population but by LEO Project Foundation. However, LEO doesn’t want to be the project leader at any project and doesn’t wish to own the project either. This project has to become a project led and owned by those involved: the local people, businesses and government.

Steps to realization

We need to get local population, businesses and government involved by making them aware of the seriousness of beach pollution and the great benefits to health and wealth gained by keeping the beaches clean.

Hence it is our task to prepare and execute an awareness campaign before moving any further and helping the stakeholders execute a plan to clean and maintain the beaches.
This project is planned to be executed in early October 2010 when the necessary resources are available.