Daraz Cares Nurdle Clean Up: A Joint Solution to End Beach Pollution
Sri Lanka boasts some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world. Therefore it is one of the most popular beach destinations that attract people from all across the globe. The entire island is encircled by stretches of pristine shorelines and azure seas.
However, on the 20th of May, 2021, the Sri Lankan beaches faced one of the world’s worst marine disasters. The container ship MV XPress Pearl caught fire just 10 miles from the coast. It spilled over 75 billion nurdles into the ocean.
Furthermore, this has caused detrimental and irreversible damage to the marine life on the coast. Therefore, Daraz’s CSR department Daraz Cares organised a beach clean-up. It’s an initiative to contribute to saving the beaches and the environment of Sri Lanka.
What are Nurdles?
Plastic nurdles are the basic building block of many plastic materials. After MV Xpress Pearl sank into the ocean, the Southern and Western coastlines of Sri Lanka have seen them everywhere. Some were jumbled together with darker, more natural-looking rubbish across the shore. There was the presence of burnt nurdles too. However, burnt nurdles are highly toxic and therefore detrimental to marine life.
The clean-up of these pea-sized pellets is not going to be an easy task. However, many volunteers have come forward to clean the beaches. It was a virtuous attempt to restore the beaches to their original condition.
Cleaning Our Beaches One Nurdle At A Time
As a first simple step towards cleaning our ocean environment, Daraz Cares partnered with Pearl Protectors Sri Lanka to be a part of the Nurdle Free Sri Lanka project. Daraz identifies that volunteering is crucial to individualistic growth and is an excellent way of connecting with the community. Furthermore, it is also rewarding on a personal level, giving individuals a greater sense of purpose. Additionally, volunteering helps to enhance social skills and uplift a person’s emotional and mental well-being. Therefore Daraz Cares always attempts to connect the Daraz employees in volunteer activities. It’s an initiative for their own well-being and also to give back to the community.
On the 24th of June, over thirty passionate employees of Daraz gathered at Mount Lavinia beach to clean up the nurdles on the beach.
It was quite inspiring to see everyone come together (despite the ongoing crisis) and volunteer their time and effort to remove 3kgs of nurdles from the shore. The garbage and other debris trails did not discourage the Darazians from collecting and getting rid of the nurdles to contribute to a cleaner environment in Sri Lanka.
It was a firsthand experience for many Darazians to learn how human activities can have harmful effects on the environment. Additionally, it was a great activity to unite team members of different departments in a co-joined effort to contribute to a worthy cause.
In the future, Daraz Cares is looking forward to partnering with different volunteer organisations, ranging from food donations to environmental protection and education/ skills development. Additionally, Daraz Cares plan to do a large-scale project benefiting the environment in collaboration with Pearl Protectors.
Testimonies From the Participants
“It was an engaging session, where I learned a lot about the harm to fish because of the plastic pellets on the beach, and there was just too much to collect, which means there’s much more work to be done on the beach clean-up. And I am happy that I was able to contribute to this. I really wish the Pearl protector team all the best, and they are doing a great service to the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.”
Usmaan Ziyan, Senior Executive – Affiliate Marketing
“The Daraz Mount Beach clean-up, was definitely an evening well spent with the team, under the guidance of Pearl Protectors Sri Lanka. I loved the energy and camaraderie of the many volunteers from the various divisions, and it was nice to connect with like-minded colleagues. We all got a firsthand view of the adverse impact of human activities on the environment, and I am glad that we were able to take some action to reverse it. Shout out to the Daraz Cares team for organising this initiative, and looking forward to many more such sessions with the team.”
Binara Seneviratne, Regional Head of Private Label
“A beach clean-up is also an opportunity to gather new data about coasts and the types of trash that pollutes them. It was an exciting experience and an opportunity for me to learn new things. I want to thank Daraz cares for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to become a better citizen.”
Shameera Hafeel, Merchant Engagement Executive, KOKO
“Thank you for the opportunity given to volunteer in this event. This is an activity that a community has to follow as beach lovers to keep our environment clean. I hope we can have more activities organised like this in the near future with more participants. Happy to come and work with you guys.”
Nadeesha Harshini, Senior Training Executive, Customer Service Support – Quality Assurance.
If you would like to learn more about Daraz Cares and the initiatives organised by Daraz Cares, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/grEAcZTm
