Cleaning Schinias

On Sunday, October 5th, a group of volunteers gathered to clean the beach and forest of Schinias-Marathon National Park. Under a bright blue sky and stiff winds, the group of 158 people cleaned approximately 39 stremmata (39,000 m2) of the forest and beach. By the end of the morning, 12 blue recycling bins had been completed filled with litter.

The volunteers were all ages and nationalities: Greeks, Americans, French, British, and others all participated. The group was strengthened by the enthusiastic support of the Nea Makri Sailing Club, the Panayiotopoulos School, and the Boy Scouts of America Troop 343, which collectively brought 65 students, scouts and adults to the event.

The Schinias-Marathon National Park faces grave environmental threats, as there are not enough funds or resources to properly safeguard the area. Every year, over 1 million people visit the beach, mostly Athenians coming for the day. Tonnes of garbage and refuse are left on the beach and forest, ranging from food packaging to baby diapers to rusted beach umbrellas and chairs. During the summer high season, over 1,000 cars per day enter the park, creating significant damage to the beach and dunes.

The clean-up initiative was launched and supported by a group of associations and volunteers, including

· American Community Schools of Athens, Greece
· Athenes Accueil
· Boy Scouts of America Troop 343
· College Year in Athens / DIKEMES
· Foreigners Club of Nea Makri, Marathon, Rafina and Northeastern Attica
· Gr. SARANTIS S.A.
· Marathonioi Orizontes
· ΜΙΑΦΥΣΗ International Nature Network
· Municipality of Marathon
· NAVIGATOR Consulting Group Ltd.
· Oikotrofeio Η ΖΩΗ
· Panayiotopoulos School
· Princeton Club of Greece

· Sailing Club
· Tikki World Café & Kitchen
· US Embassy, Athens

Gr. Sarantis SA donated Sanitas plastic bags used to collect the litter. Skai 100.3 FM radio, and The Athens News provided invaluable publicity for the event. Navigator Consulting provided additional materials for the event.

A special thanks to all the volunteers who participated in the event:

Constantinos Aimoniotis
Victor Alvarez
Philip & Chip Ammerman
Jennifer, Tim, Teo & Louka Ananiadis
Conner Arman
Miriam Awad
Kathy Boukedes
Susan and Nathan Broaddus
Mark Brown
Elias Carayiannis
James Carter
Dan and Sharon Chavez
Angela Colyvas
Eri Coroneou
Kees and Caio Davison
Lieke & Henske Defize
Andrea Edmonds
Christina Gavrili
Emmanouella Georgatou
Loren Giallanella
Nigel Grainge
Casey Hall
Jason Hoffecker
Christine Jackson Counelis
Judy Johnson
Brad & Michaela Jones
Rodderick Jones
Igor Kazarian
George Kefallonitis
Vicki Kontarines
Maria Koulouridou
Annamaria Kontarines
Dimitri Koumanakos
Michael and Heather Kuhn
Bill and Constantine Kutson
Berenice Mariscal
Charity Moschopoulos

Nico Moschopoulos
Bill Murad
Constantinos Papadias
Angeliki Papalambrou
Monique Pelequine
Anna Pesic
Alexis Phylactopoulos
Laurie Poseidon
Mark Salzman
Lambros & Sheri Skartsis
Kostas Spyridis
Anna Stathopoulos
David Taylor
Themistokles Tranos
Stavros Triandafyllides