About Our Ocean Cleanup

🌊 Our Ocean Cleanup – Every Summer, One Coastline at a Time

Location: Nosy Be Archipelago, Northwest Madagascar – specifically the beaches of Andilana and Madirokely, plus the mangroves of Ambatozavavy.
Coordinates: 13.40°S, 48.24°E

When: July 1 – August 31, every year since 2020 (5th season in 2025)
Team: 6–8 Phylanke crew members + 10–15 local volunteers each day
Daily shift: 6 hours (7:00 AM – 1:00 PM) – low tide to avoid high‑water debris.

What we collect:

· Plastic bottles, fishing nets, flip‑flops, Styrofoam fragments, and microplastics (using sieves in the sand).
· We separate waste: recyclable plastic shipped to a facility in Mahajanga; non‑recyclable sent to a cement kiln for co‑processing.

By the numbers (5 seasons):

· Total waste removed: 14.2 metric tons
  · 2020: 1.8 t (first season, small scale)
  · 2021: 2.4 t
  · 2022: 3.0 t
  · 2023: 3.2 t
  · 2024: 3.8 t (improved logistics)
· Average per day: ~120 kg (range 80–200 kg depending on tides and storms)
· Volunteer hours: Over 7,200 hours of hands‑on cleaning
· Distance covered: ~140 km of coastline surveyed and cleaned cumulatively

What we don’t do:
We don’t hire outside crews. Every piece of trash is picked up by our own hands or by local fishers we pay a fair wage. No greenwashing. No photo‑op‑only cleanups.

Why Nosy Be?
The archipelago is a biodiversity hotspot – coral reefs, sea turtles, and dugongs live there. But it’s also a plastic trap: currents from the Indian Ocean push debris onto these shores, and local waste management is almost nonexistent. Cleaning here directly protects marine life.

What changes after we leave?
We work with the community to install simple trash barriers (booms) in rivers and organize monthly “no‑plastic” markets. The goal isn’t to clean forever – it’s to make cleaning less needed over time.

“We return every summer because the ocean doesn’t take a vacation. Neither do we.”
– Phylanke team, ankle‑deep in plastic, July 2025.