How ‘Sahel’s Biggest Beach Clean Up’ is Changing the Way Egypt’s Kids Are Engaged in Eco-Issues

With a pioneering plastic ban launched in Hurghada and similar initiatives and campaigns in the Red Sea cities well underway, the winds of change are blowing through Egypt as the masses become more and more mindful of the effects of plastic waste on the environment. More imoprtantly, people are becoming more mindful of actually doing something about it. 

The problem is very real and not even Sahel is safe. Plaguing beaches, and subsequently marine life, plastic amounts to 0.57 million tonnes of waste in the Mediterranean waters, according to World Wildlife Fund. That’s equated to dumping 33,800 plastic bottles into the sea per minute, and the number is estimated to quadruple by 2050.

Setting its’ crosshairs on the epidemic is Egyptian mobile application Orcas, a platform that initially connected parents with babysitters, tutors and other services.With the launch of Orcas Discoveries, the app is set to also include events, classes and workshops, coordinated and conducted by young adults for children - and it's this under-served segment of Egyptian society that Orcas is targeting with its ambitious beach cleanup on Friday 26th of July across the North Coast.

Orcas Discovers’ first event is aiming high, holding ‘Sahel’s Biggest Beach Clean Up 2019’ in five resorts across the coast including Haciendas, Stella, Ghazala Bay, Diplo 3 and Telal. Undertaken in collaboration with Greenish, a local start-up that aims to deliver education and innovative solutions about the environment through arts, the event will bring together parents and children and will kick-off with a crash course on the topic it hand, become launching into a sweeping clean-up. But the real achievement of the clean-up won't just be in how many tonnes of plastic is cleaned-up - it goes much further. By focusing on kids, Orcas aims to raise a new generation of environmentally-aware Egyptians; a generation that will hopefully grow up with eco-awareness ingrained in their very being.

Orcas aimed for a double educational whammy experience, by having the event raise awareness, and what better way to educate children on being eco-friendly than involving them in such a grand event, aside from pamphlets, classes and books, Orcas adopts the best learning experience known to man: to do.

It marks the beginning of a new phase for the app, with Orcas Discoveries also featuring everything from cooking classes, to acting workshops. The platform announced the new service after raising $500,000 in investment by the leading technology VC firm in Egypt, Algebra Ventures, with participation from NFX Capital.

For more information on the clean-up, click here.

Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash