Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii

THE REDUCTION OF POLLUTION ON COASTLINES THROUGH LARGE SCALE BEACH CLEANUPS AND EDUCATION.

EDUCATION & OUTREACH: SUSTAINABLE COASTLINES HAWAII'S (SCH) EDUCATION PROGRAM IS SOLUTIONS-BASED, INTERACTIVE, AND FUN. OUR EDUCATORS FOCUS ON DEFINING MARINE DEBRIS AND EXPLAINING WHERE IT COMES FROM, HOW IT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS PEOPLE AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. SCH EMPOWERS PEOPLE OF ALL AGES TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES TO ADDRESS PLASTIC POLLUTION AND ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO GET THEIR FRIENDS, FAMILY, SCHOOLS, AND COMMUNITY INVOLVED. SCH EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES ARE ALWAYS FREE FOR SCHOOLS AND STUDENT GROUPS! DURING THIS VERY SPECIAL YEAR, OUR SCH EDUCATION TEAM ADAPTED TO COVID RESTRICTIONS AND TOOK ON THE CHALLENGE TO KICKSTART A FUN AND INTERACTIVE ONLINE LEARNING PROGRAM. WE DOVE HEADFIRST INTO VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS FILLED WITH GAMES AND PERSONALIZED CONTENT, AND WE DEVELOPED NEW OUTDOOR LEARNING EXPERIENCES. OUR TEAM IS STOKED TO BE BACK IN THE CLASSROOMS, AND WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CURRICULUM, A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR OUR EDUCATORS, NEW FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCES, AND VIRTUAL MATERIALS AND RESOURCES. WE ARE COMMITTED TO CONTINUE INNOVATING AND FINDING NEW WAYS TO ENGAGE A GLOBAL AUDIENCE ONLINE AND IN PERSON, FROM K - KINDERGARTEN TO KUPUNA! IN 2021 SCH CONNECTED WITH 3,508 STUDENTS FROM ACROSS HAWAII THE WORLD, USING 142 EVENTS IN PERSON AND ONLINE IN REACTION TO THE PANDEMIC. OUR OUTREACH PROGRAM WAS ALSO ABLE TO REACH MILLIONS OF VIEWS THROUGH ENGAGING SOCIAL MEDIA AND VIRTUAL EVENT FOLLOWINGS. WITH OVER 250,000 FOLLOWERS ACROSS PLATFORMS, SCH USES CREATIVE APPROACHES TO ENGAGE ITS GLOBAL AUDIENCE IN EVERYDAY SOLUTIONS TO PLASTIC POLLUTION AND BEYOND.

CLEANUPS, OCEAN PLASTICS, & RESTORATION: OUR LARGE-SCALE CLEANUPS ARE HANDS-ON AND ENGAGING COMMUNITY BEACH CLEANUPS HELD 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. OVER THE COURSE OF 2021, WE WERE ABLE TO CLEAN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF DEBRIS OFF HAWAII COASTLINES. THE EVENT WITH THE LARGEST REMOVAL OF THE YEAR WAS OUR KAIMUKI CLEANUP AND OFFICE GRAND OPENING, WHERE WE COLLECTED 6,040 POUNDS OF LAND-BASED DEBRIS FROM KAIMUKI AND THE PALOLO STREAM. THE LARGEST SINGLE-ITEM REMOVAL WAS A GHOST NET ON THE EAST SIDE OF MOLOKAI THAT WEIGHED IN AT 3,500 LBS. IN TOTAL, WE USED OVER 500,000 VOLUNTEER HOURS TO CLEAN UP 37,515 LBS OF DEBRIS, AND WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR EVERY MINUTE OF IT. GIVEN THE CONSTRAINTS OF COVID-19 WE WERE CONSISTENTLY ADAPTING TO LIMITS ON IN-PERSON EVENTS AND IN LIMITING THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS, WE ADDED MANY MORE CLEANUPS - HOSTING OVER 80 CLEANUPS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

SUSTAINEVENTS & COMPOSTING: AS EVENTS OPENED UP IN 2021, OUR WASTE MANAGEMENT TEAM JUMPED IN TO ACTION WITH A WHOLE NEW LOOK. THIS YEAR WE DEBUTED OUR NEW WASTE SORTING RECEPTACLES CREATED WITH OUR PARTNERS AT THE ALBIZIA PROJECT - MADE FROM RECLAIMED MATERIALS AND INVASIVE SPECIES. OUR NEW RECEPTACLES SORT WASTE 4 WAYS FROM FOOD SCRAPS, COMPOSTABLE CONTAINERS, RECYCLING AND (LAST AND LEAST) LANDFILL WASTE. THIS YEAR WE ALSO BEGAN A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH BOTTLES 4 COLLEGE, A NONPROFIT FOUNDED BY A LOCAL 13 YEAR OLD GENSHU PRICE THAT DONATES HI-5 RECYCLING REDEMPTION PROFITS TO LOCAL STUDENTS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS. IN 2021 WE ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER INTO A NEW INDUSTRY, WORKING WITH A PRODUCTION HERE IN HAWAI'I. IT WAS OUR FIRST TIME WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES ON SET, HELPING REDUCE PLASTIC WASTE AND PROVIDE BETTER SOLUTIONS FOR COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS. SCH ALSO INTEGRATED ITS IN-VESSEL COMPOSTING SYSTEM INTO OPERATIONS BY EXPERIMENTING AND DIVERTING ON-SITE WASTE TO CREATE HEALTHY SOIL. THIS PROGRAM WILL EXPAND IN 2022 WITH NEW PARTNERSHIPS AND THE FIRST COMPOSTING PERMIT OF ITS KIND IN HAWAI'I.