Pangna Sun – Journey to the Beach

I took this class assignment as an opportunity to search for trash on the way to the beach and at the Saadiyat Beach as well as to do some exercise. I did not expect much trash at the beach because the last time I was there, the beach looked quite clean. This could be because I did not pay much attention to it and focused more on enjoying the beach. Thus, I decided to take a walk to the beach, paying close attention to my surrounding, hoping to find more trash on the way. 

On the way to the beach, I found a few litters. The most common ones were bottle caps, cigarette buds, and plastic bags. These items are small, so I believe the cleaning people must have missed them during their cleaning routine. Surprising, I did not know that cigarette buds are made from plastic prior to taking this class, so I always thought that they are made from paper and compostable. Other people might have this misconception too, so they throw away their cigarette buds into the environment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once in a while, I found some big and random litters like an aluminum tray and large plastic bags. These less common trash might have escaped the garbage bins or been thrown away by some reckless people. In any case, they seem to be out of place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I almost reached the beach, I was shocked to find such a huge amount of trash in the area next to the parking lot. The place was literally littered with litters! There were water bottles, cups, tissues, masks, bags (plastic and paper), etc. People must have thrown them away after they came from their picnic on the beach. They needed to rush into their buses or catch a taxi, so they couldn’t go to the garbage bins that were only a few meters away. As a result, the area next to the parking lot became a mini landfill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, I thought that I had found enough trash for today. 

I still continued my journey to the beach. Fortunately, there was not much trash there. I took my time to stroll around and enjoyed some refreshment from the ocean breeze. Once in a while, I found some plastic bag and bottle caps. I also found strange objects like a steel rod, a rope, and a milk container washed ashore by the wave. Thus,  some trash were washed up by the wave and some were thrown away by the people who went to the beach. 

 

On the way back, I was glad that the beach was not as polluted as the area next to the parking lot. I hope people could give the same importance to both areas, so the area next to the parking lot would receive the same love as the beach.