Dhaka, Bangladesh: Coca-Cola Bangladesh, along with Kewkradong Bangladesh, has recently successfully concluded the eighth edition of the coastal cleanup and marine conservation drive along the beach of St Martin’s Island as part of its global commitment to create a “World Without Waste” by 2030. The ambitious goal entails facilitating collection and recycling the equivalent of every bottle or can that the company sells globally by the envisioned time frame. The two-day activity was organized in sync with 32nd annual International Coastal Cleanup®, at St. Martin’s Island, Bangladesh’s only coral island.

The partnership aims towards paving the way for a sustainable and clean environment along the waterways while also driving discussion to understand the causes of marine debris and raising awareness on the harmful effects of marine littering. Volunteers from all walks of life, including students, school teachers and professionals from all over the nation, engaged in collection and segregation of waste and interacted with and sensitized the beach goers on importance of marine conservation. Representatives from Union Parishad along with the Panel Chairman, Md. Abdur Rahman, also took part in this initiative. The information gathered through this initiative will be uploaded to Ocean Conservancy’s global ocean trash database. The slogan for this year’s campaign is ‘Pick it up, clean it up, sea change.’ On the second day of the event, notebooks with awareness messages were distributed to the local students of St. Martin’s Island.

International Coastal Cleanup is the world’s largest volunteering effort attracting thousands of participants to help collect millions of pounds of waste and debris from beaches, lakes and waterways. In the last eight years through this initiative by Coca-Cola Bangladesh and Kewkradong Bangladesh, around 4,000 people have volunteered and collected over 9,600 kilograms of marine debris. This year, 500 volunteers collected 1,200 kgs of marine debris.

Coca-Cola Public Affairs and Communications (PAC) Director of Bangladesh, Shamima Akhter said, “The scenic beauty of St. Martin’s and its beautiful coral island attract lots of tourists and therefore there has to be sustained awareness on responsible coastline conservation. This is our eighth edition of the coastal cleanup drive and we hope that together we will be able to create a world without waste.”

About Coca-Cola Bangladesh
Coca-Cola in Bangladesh refreshes thousands of consumers throughout the country through its core product offerings of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Kinley Water, Kinley Soda, Coca-Cola Zero, Sprite Zero, RimZim, Thums up Charged and Fanta Lychee. The system employs more than 500 people directly and indirectly provides employment to over 5,000 people. Coca-Cola is committed to strengthening the community through various programs, such as ‘Every Drop Matters’ and WASH, both of which help to provide water, sanitation, hygiene as well as rainwater harvesting projects in schools across the country.

Coca-Cola in Bangladesh is running its unique and flagship program named “Women Business Center” where, where women empowerment in financial sector is the main objective.

About Ocean Conservancy

Ocean Conservancy educates and empowers citizens to take action on behalf of the ocean. From the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico to the halls of Congress, Ocean Conservancy brings people together to find solutions for our water planet. Informed by science, our work guides policy and engages people in protecting the ocean and its wildlife for future generations.

About Kewkradong Bangladesh

Kewkradong Bangladesh is a youth lead organization and the leader of Marine Debris program in Bangladesh. Kewkradong Bangladesh is representing The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup since 2006 as a country coordinator. Till today this advocacy group could educate and reach more than Thousands of people regarding the impact and outcomes of marine debris. Kewkradong Bangladesh participated in the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Honolulu, USA.