Volunteers celebrating International Coastal Cleanup Day collected 277kg of rubbish from the beach and coastal area near the Malta National Aquarium today.

The coastal cleanup involved volunteers from the US Embassy, National Aquarium, Nature Trust, Maltaqua Dive School, Birdlife Malta, St Paul's Bay local council and Sharklab, as well as a number of local and international students. 

Volunteers gathered 115kg of general waste and 162kg of recyclable material during the cleanup. 

International Coastal Cleanup Day was officially marked on September 17. The calendar event was established by the Ocean Conservancy, an organisation that work to help protect the ocean from the challenges it faces every year. Last year, nearly 800,000 volunteers gathered more than 8 million kilogrammes of rubbish from coasts across the globe to mark the yearly event. 

US Ambassador G. Kathleen Hill said: "It is our personal responsibility to keep our beaches clean. We must not rely on the authorities, or anyone for that matter, to clean up outdoor spaces. Each one of us has a duty to reduce the amount of garbage we generate but we also have a duty to ensure that we dispose of our garbage responsibly.”

St Paul's Bay mayor Graziella Galea and the national aquarium's Mark Pace also took part in the cleanup.