Global Ocean Beach clean-up at Bunaken Marine Park

On June 13, more than 70 people gathered on one of North Sulawesi’s most iconic beaches, inside Bunaken National Park.

With support from a partial grant from Oceanic Society, our long-standing partner resorts, and the North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA), we brought together people who don’t usually spend their mornings doing the same thing: resort staff, dive operators, government representatives, environmental organisations, and volunteers.

Then we started picking up plastic. There was plenty of it.

By the end of the morning, 584 bags had been filled, around three tons of plastic waste removed in just a few hours.

Our team coordinated its transport to the Ocean Plastic Sorting Station on the mainland, where it could be sorted and directed towards recycling and appropriate treatment. That extra step is less visible than the cleanup itself, but it is what turns a beach cleanup from a one-day event into part of a longer waste management system.

The 2026 Global Ocean Cleanup was made possible locally through the support of Oceanic Society, our partner resorts and NSWA. More importantly, it gave North Sulawesi a chance to be part of a much bigger effort.