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The Green Clean
The beach is actively used by a variety of people, each having their own unique role. In this section, the most influential groups of people are described and elaborated on.
Recreational Use
Recreational Use
Beaches attract a lot of visitors. However, not all visitors have the same desire for the beach. While some enjoy sunbathing in clean white sand, without any litter or organic material sticking to their feet, others visit the beach to enjoy the scenic nature and get a breath of fresh salty air. These two types of beach use of different types of tourists directly contradict each other. This makes it hard for the municipalities to fulfill all desires and to make sure everyone feels heard. Therefore, the Green Clean project provides options that can be used by municipalities to improve their beach cleaning management to satisfy the needs of both types of tourists.
Scheveningen beach busy with tourists
Source: Pitane.blue
Volunteers cleaning up a beach at the province of Zeeland
Source: facebookpage Hetgroenestrand
Volunteers
Volunteers
Next to visitors, volunteers fulfill a crucial role in the community of the beaches. These volunteers are often part of nature conservation organisations, which are non-governmental organisations (NGOs). There are multiple nature conservation organisations that perform a variety of tasks, including, but not limited to, keeping track of certain species, educating both children as well as adults about the importance of nature, or cleaning the beach of all sorts of litter.
NGOs and other institutes organize beach cleanup events regularly. A date is scheduled on which everyone can come and help pick up the waste from these beaches. The organization takes care of the necessary equipment, as well as the coffee in between. However, a downfall of this concept is that it is proven to be difficult to maintain a group of volunteers large enough to do this on a regular basis.
Beach Communities
Beach Communities
Municipalities are the ones responsible for keeping the beach clean, but they are not the only ones who care about the state of the beach. Volunteers from multiple organisations can be active on a stretch of beach, but communication between volunteer groups and municipalities is often minimal. One of the initiatives of project Het Groene Strand is to establish so-called "beach communities". These beach communities consist of members of all groups active on a certain stretch of beach - like the municipality, entrepreneurs, and volunteers. By communicating what each group can contribute to the management of the beach, and cooperating where possible, the most efficient and effective way to manage the beach can be determined.
Beach community from the municipality of Veere
Source: Twitter @hetgroenestrand
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