More than 1,400 volunteers participated in activities along Miranda’s coastline as part of World Beach Day.
The Daily Journal.— Under the Barlovento sun and with a shared commitment to protecting Venezuela’s coastline, young people, residents, and visitors gathered on Saturday, September 19, to collect waste polluting the beaches during a nationwide cleanup campaign marking World Beach Day.
At Los Totumos Beach, in Brión municipality, Miranda state, the Environmental Movement of the Central University of Venezuela (Eco UCV) participated in the initiative, supported by the Montalbán Agroecological School and The Daily Journal.
More than 100 young people and coastal residents took part in the cleanup activities, which ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We participate in these activities not only to mark World Beach Cleanup Day but also to raise public awareness. As volunteers, we collect certain amounts of trash and gather data and information that allow us to encourage citizens to reflect on their actions,” explained Dayalice Anza, a geography student and member of the Eco UCV environmental movement.
The initiative highlighted a reality affecting coastal ecosystems: the accumulation of waste, particularly plastics, that reaches beaches and remains there until communities and volunteers organize cleanup efforts.
Volunteers found soft drink bottles, drinking straws, and lollipop sticks along the coastline. They also found pieces of wood the Tuy River had carried downstream, showing how waterway pollution eventually reaches recreational beaches.
A cleanup campaign across Miranda’s coastline
The Los Totumos cleanup formed part of a broader environmental initiative. The Foundation for the Defense of Nature (FUDENA) and Eco Brión organized cleanup activities at 10 beach and river recreation areas throughout the Barlovento region.
In her overall assessment of World Beach Day 2026, Eco Brión President Bárbara Ordóñez reported that volunteers collected more than eight tons of solid waste along Miranda’s coastline.
Ordóñez explained that more than 1,400 volunteers and over 30 organizations participated at 20 designated cleanup sites across the municipalities of Acevedo, Brión, Páez, and Pedro Gual. Plastic was the most frequently collected waste type.
The environmental advocate urged people to stop littering or disposing of waste improperly to keep garbage from reaching Barlovento’s coastline.
“Together, we are the solution, because Miranda is a place worth protecting,” she said, summarizing the campaign’s message.
Trash does not stay where people discard it
Beach pollution does not come exclusively from beachgoers. Rivers carry waste from other areas before emptying into the sea.
Francis Herrera, coordinating secretary for Ecosocialism, Science, and Technology of the Miranda state government, said the challenge lies in changing the attitudes of both visitors and those who contribute to pollution from the country’s capital.
Herrera highlighted the participation of public institutions and private organizations but emphasized that cleanup efforts must go hand in hand with changes in everyday habits.
Meanwhile, Joswell Rodríguez, director of the Miranda Ecosocialist Territorial Unit, described the initiative as a voluntary cleanup effort and explained that the teams would transport the collected waste for final disposal. He also identified recycling as part of the necessary solutions.
Protecting beaches beyond a single cleanup day
The Daily Journal’s participation, alongside the Montalbán Agroecological School and Eco UCV, was part of an initiative to mobilize communities to protect natural spaces.
For more than 30 years, FUDENA has promoted World Beach Day activities in Venezuela. Five years ago, Eco Brión committed to organizing the campaign in Miranda in partnership with the foundation.
Collecting waste helps temporarily restore affected areas, but the environmental challenge extends beyond removing accumulated trash. Proper waste disposal, plastic reduction, and responsible behavior among those who live, work, or visit coastal areas require sustained commitment.
At Los Totumos, as at the other cleanup sites across Miranda, the campaign delivered a shared message: protecting beaches is not solely the responsibility of volunteers who gather once a year, but an everyday commitment to the environment and coastal communities.
