A mattress, butane canisters, a dead cow, toasters, hospital lines, test tubes with blood..., "even a bottle of water from China". This is all that Aduén Morales and the rest of the Lanzarote Limpia team, a local organization dedicated to caring for the environment, have collected during the last years, in their beach cleaning initiatives.
Ten years ago, Tobias Heeb and Stephan Cerf founded the non-profit organization Famara Limpia, a project that was born as a result of the effect of microplastics on Famara Beach, and with the intention of leaving a positive mark there. However, little by little, as they became aware that the difficulty was greater, the initiative spread to the rest of the island, giving rise to Lanzarote Limpia.
Now the project organizes cleanings on beaches in the conejero territory every Sunday, in which they have found "everything", a fact that leads Morales to affirm to La Voz that there is "a detachment from the natural environment and knowledge", which has led the island, over the years, "to get worse".
"Tons" of waste collected on beaches
During these years, Lanzarote Limpia has collected "tons" of garbage accumulated in coastal enclaves. Many of these wastes come from the marine current, since there are beaches that are depositories, "but despite the fact that they come from the sea, they are also generated by humans. The sea doesn't throw a mattress", Morales details, recalling the piece of bed they found in Órzola.
"There is a problem with garbage both on the coast and inland", the activist defends, and details that this situation has been generated by the "detachment" of a part of the population, which leaves an "important mark" by not realizing that they are also part of the "whole".
"We have to start really valuing the natural environment. You don't have to go to bed with a tree every night, but you have to be aware that we are not superior beings to them".
Lack of institutional involvement
This indifference, in Morales' opinion, is also reflected in the institutions, where there is evidence of a "lack of involvement": "Politics has to move more", he explains, and takes the example of Costa Teguise, an area that is currently "very dirty".
On this, the member of Lanzarote Limpia questions that "if we don't even take care of the tourist part, which is the most visible, how are we going to do it with the rest?".
Although he recognizes that progress has been made in terms of awareness, he considers that we are still "getting worse", and relates that, on some occasions, in his publications on social networks to raise awareness, there are comments such as "Start cleaning".
"When we talk about environmental education, it is clear that there is a general detachment from the natural environment and knowledge".
One Sunday, one cleaning
However, this reality has not dampened the spirits of Lanzarote Limpia. Every week, they announce a cleaning for the last day of these along all the beaches of the island, in which volunteers participate who "come from all over".
Morales points out that there are even tourists who come directly from the airport with their rental cars because "they have seen the initiative and want to participate".
This Sunday, January 29, they will be in Teguise, specifically on Playa de la Tía Vicenta, trying to leave the area in the best possible condition to help ensure that the conejero space continues to be "the paradise that it is, without waste that disturbs it".
