Coca-Cola marked International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day 2022 with a clean-up at the Crow Island Beach Park. This year’s event is of greater significance to Coca-Cola as it also marks the completion of one year since the company embarked on a ground-breaking ‘Adopt a Beach’ program at the Crow Island beach in partnership with Clean Ocean Force (COF), a non-profit working towards eliminating plastic, manmade pollutants, and debris from the beaches of Sri Lanka.

The event was graced by the presence of US Ambassador to Sri Lanka H.E Julie J. Chung together with Pankaj Sinha, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Sri Lanka & Maldives and Deepak Senthil Nath, Managing Director/CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. (CCBSL) along with many volunteers from Coca-Cola in Sri Lanka, Clean Ocean Force (COF), and Coca-Cola’s PET collection partners. This event also had the participation of several government organisations such as the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, Sri Lanka Environmental Police, and the Municipal Council of Colombo along with the participation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (AmCham), its member companies and officials and colleagues from the US Embassy in Sri Lanka.

ICC engages people from across the globe to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways with the support of volunteer organizations and individuals. For over 35 years, 17 million volunteers have joined the International Coastal Cleanup to collect more than 350 million pounds of plastic and debris while also recording what they find and helping inform research and legislation across the world.

This was Sri Lanka’s first-ever corporate sustainability initiative that was based on the concept of adopting a beach for a prolonged period and ensuring it would be cleaned daily. The initial success of the ‘Adopt a Beach’ program meant that it was expanded in recent months to cover five additional polluted beaches and three lagoon boundaries along the Negombo coastline (Kammalthota, Palangathuraya, Kudapaduwa, Wellavidiya, Kuttiduwa, Munnakaraya, Mahavidiya, Kadolkale) all of which have been cleaned on a daily and some bi-weekly basis to date. Since the pilot phase of the project tens of thousands of trash has been successfully removed from multiple beacheas and waterways.

“Sharing her views, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, H.E Julie J. Chung stated, “I am grateful to Coca Cola Sri Lanka for inviting me to participate along with Embassy colleagues in cleaning Crow Island Beach.  Nothing connects the peoples of the world like our oceans, and it was great to be part of this global effort.  I truly enjoyed my first beach clean-up in Sri Lanka, sharing the passion and experience with Clean Ocean Force plus volunteers from businesses, government, and the local community.  I especially appreciated the chance to contribute alongside the dedicated women’s community force of Clean Ocean Force which Coca-Cola funds to protect and clean these beaches and recycle the plastic waste every day, while improving their livelihoods.”

Coca-Cola has a long history of working with local stakeholders and the community to spearhead cleanup initiatives. The ongoing 'Adopt A Beach' initiative highlights Coca-Cola’s commitment towards a 'World Without Waste' which is The Coca-Cola Company’s sustainable packaging initiative which includes a goal to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one it sells by 2030. This waste management program is locally initiated as 'Give Back Life' and connects multiple stakeholders such as waste collectors, recyclers, local governments, civil society, youth groups and the private sector to create an efficient collection and recycling system for PET plastic bottles across the country.

Managing Director Coca-Cola Sri Lanka & Maldives Pankaj Sinha stated, “With over 70 clean-up initiatives conducted in Sri Lanka since 2017, Coca-Cola has engaged the community in raising awareness about the need for disposing waste in a responsible manner. As we celebrate International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022, we can proudly look back at our significant contribution towards keeping litter away from Sri Lanka's beautiful beaches and waterways and are well-positioned to continue to make an impact as we all battle to keep our environment clean.”

Chairman/Founder of Clean Ocean Force Jerome Fernando commented, “Clean Ocean Force's clean-up model works towards getting the support of the local community to voluntarily work for 3-4 hours every morning as we believe that a daily mechanism is vital to keep our beaches, oceans and other waterways free from waste. With the support and funding by Coca-Cola, our very first corporate partner, we have been able to achieve outstanding results so far. We have been able to provide direct livelihood for over 40 individuals from low-income communities and over 80 others indirectly.”

The Clean Ocean Force team collaborates with organizations and Governmental bodies to clean the beaches and waterways of Sri Lanka by involving local communities, drawing both volunteers and a task force to tackle the issue of plastic. Ove the years, Coca-Cola's approach of establishing partnerships with key stakeholders in order to overcome the challenge of environmental pollution across Sri Lanka has delivered outstanding results, and this is one of many.