Hawaii Hotel Coastal Cleanup Challenge 2012

This year, we expanded the scope of the “hotel cleanup challenge” we had previously coordinated in the Ka’anapali region, to include hotels across the state, by providing general guidance and compiling the resources and materials they’d need, and making them readily available through our website. 

CORAL and the Ka’anapali Makai Watch program hosted a cleanup at Kahekili Beach Park, which was supported by nearby resort properties the Honua Kai and the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas. Check out the previous blog post for a summary of that effort, and mahalo to all the community members and resort staff and guests who came out to volunteer that day!

We would like to thank all the properties on Maui and in West Hawai'i that participated in the Hawaii Hotel Coastal Cleanup Challenge – to date, the following properties have taken part: Aston Mahana at Ka’anapali, Aston at the Whaler on Ka’anapali Beach, Fairmont Kea Lani, Fairmont Orchid, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Honua Kai Condominium Association, Inc., Hualalai Resort, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, Ka’anapali Beach Resort, Marriott Maui Ocean Club, Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa.

I would like to share a few photos, below, provided to us by the Fairmont Kea Lani cleanup team, and also an account of the event written by Kevin Gavagan, from the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.

A beautiful morning swim, beach clean up day
by Kevin Gavagan, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea

One bottle, one tennis ball, some hair bands, a piece of a broken sand toy, and several tourists using their stand up paddles backwards was all we could find. 40 volunteers showed up at the beach at 6:30 in the morning and after 2 hours of swimming and paddling  from Makena’s Puu Olai to the Kihei Boat ramp,  5 miles, and that’s all we had to show for the effort. We ran along that same coastline earlier in the week and found similar conditions on land and therefore decided to send our land crew of about 15 people over to Oneloa beach (Big Beach) to clean it up. They were able to come back with a more formidable load of litter which was catalogued and recorded for the data collection. At first glance I had the thought that we engaged a lot of effort with little result. As I thought more about it I was more than satisfied to report first hand that 5 miles of coast line largely developed with resorts and condominiums is certifiably clean of near shore line ocean debris, both on the land and in the sea. This did not just happen. All of these beaches are used extensively, primarily for recreation. There was a corner of my mind at least that thought with this much human interaction there would be some sign of a larger negative impact.  Humans equal waste and neglect. Well for 5 miles here in Honuaula that was not the case today. I thought of how each of these properties are cared for by landscaping crews, beach boys and the public at large, there is an obvious collective interest in maintaining the cleanliness of this shore line, and the evidence is our lack of data collected today. Often the tide of opinion sheds a negative light on this industry many of us work in, is it green, is it clean is a value we all wish to emulate in what we do or are involved in. Yes we still have to watch our run off and other issues that negatively effect our beautiful ocean resource, but as far as the state of cleanliness in our back yard today, makai loa ka kou. It was truly a good day.   

Mahalo for all the support 
Tyson Kubo for leading the Canoes and Na Wahine of the Kihei canoe club, 
Alissa Baptist, Pat Ware, Liz Foote of CORAL for organizing this event and the grinds, 
Housekeeping, you always send the biggest support crew, 
MUSA for the Kayaks and equipment, and 
Everyone who cared and had the time today! 

Photos of the Fairmont Kea Lani's team conducting the cleanup: