Belgian Volunteers Collect 1 Million Liters of Beach Rubbish

Volunteers with the Belgian charity ‘Proper Strand Lopers’, or ‘Clean Beach Combers’, celebrated their 10th anniversary in Ostend by announcing they have collected 1 million liters of rubbish from the Flemish coast. The group began as a local initiative and has grown into a grassroots movement attracting between 10,000 and 15,000 different participants over the past decade.

The collected waste totals approximately 1,000 cubic meters, which founder Tim Corbisier equates to a 100-meter-long swimming pool. While acknowledging the ideal of a completely clean seabed is unattainable, the organization focuses on both cleanup and eliminating sources of litter.

The charity reports seeing improvements in beach cleanliness and hopes to stabilize, if not reduce, the amount of waste collected. Volunteers gather nightly at 7:30 PM on Ostend’s Small Beach. An exhibition of collected items is currently on display there for visitors.