Welcome!






























Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i (B.E.A.C.H.) is an all volunteer, non-profit organization that brings awareness and solutions to the
problem of marine debris on Hawai`i's beaches through:


  • Environmental Education
  • Marine Debris Removal and Research
  • Plastic Reduction and Litter Prevention Campaigns

in order to inspire actions by individuals and the community that will reduce and prevent plastic marine debris resulting in protection for Hawai`i's marine life, sea birds and the ocean/coastal environment.

Visit our About B.E.A.C.H. page for more information.



Whereve
r you are in the world, you can help us with this international problem of marine debris by becoming a member of B.E.A.C.H. today - click here for more information
or click on the link below to make a donation to support B.E.A.C.H. projects to save and protect Hawai`i's marine life, sea birds and ocean/coastal environment.





NEW 2022 B.E.A.C.H. Membership gifts:

Receive a Brush with Bamboo toothbrush and Vegan Floss with a 2022 B.E.A.C.H. membership and help malama our ocean


This year we are again excited to partner with local company, R Planet to provide a special membership gift for all new and renewing members - a plastic free bamboo toothbrush and dental floss!

B.E.A.C.H. membership is annual starting from World Ocean Day - June 8th. Make a difference by joining B.E.A.C.H. 100% of donations help bring awareness and solutions to plastic marine debris in Hawai`i. To become a member or renew your membership, see our membership page.



HAWAII STATE BALLOON RELEASE BAN BILL PASSES!
Click here for more information



Balloon release, Nanikuli, Oahu. June 8, 2020




Photo: © Robert Shallenberger
1.2 million plastic caps and lids recycled

Click here for more information on this project to help save sea birds.



Kauai County polystyrene foam ban bill passes!

The Kauai County Council passed Bill 2775 draft 3 on Wednesday 9th September, 2020 to ban the use and sale of polystyrene foam food service containers. Kauai County is the last county to ban polystyrene food service containers in Hawaii.

For more information and sample testimony click here



2020 B.E.A.C.H. Membership:

Receive a No Tox Life vegan dish washing soap block and bamboo soap shelf with a 2020 B.E.A.C.H. membership and help protect our ocean



This year we are excited to partner with a local company, R Planet to provide a special membership gift for all new and renewing members - a plastic free, vegan dish washing block with a bamboo soap shelf. This soap is free of dyes and fragrance and can be used to clean several parts of your home! Click here for more information.

B.E.A.C.H. membership is annual starting from World Ocean Day - June 8th. Make a difference by joining B.E.A.C.H. 100% of donations help bring awareness and solutions to plastic marine debris in Hawai`i. To become a member or renew your membership, see our membership page.



All plastic check out bags are now banned in stores across O`ahu.
The new law started on 1/1/2020.




Click here for B.E.A.C.H. Co-founder Suzanne Frazer's article
in Civil Beat.






Honolulu Council Bill 40 - DISPOSABLE PLASTIC BAN - checkout bags, utensils, straws, stirrers, cups, lids, plates, bowls, plastic grass (in sushi) and polystyrene foam containers for food and drinks
PASSED FINAL HEARING! - Mayor to sign bill Sunday 15th Dec. 2019 at 11am, Magic Island, Ala Moana Beach Park.
For more information click here




Volunteer Week Hawaii Alaska Airlines Competition winner!

B.E.A.C.H. co-founder Dean Otsuki has won the Volunteer Week Hawaii Alaska Airlines competition run by Kanu Hawaii. He won 2 round trip tickets from Alaska Airlines to anywhere they fly. The video for the competition was made by middle school children. Click here for video. Congratulations to Dean and thank you to Alaska Airlines, Kanu Hawaii and thanks to Ms. A's middle school students for their great work on the video. Dean will be using the tickets to help with B.E.A.C.H. projects - more on that later.




Receive a Skipping Stone Shampoo bar with a B.E.A.C.H. membership

Pure (unscented) Starry Night (with essential oils)

Thank you to Skipping Stone Soap for supporting B.E.A.C.H. membership. Click here for more information about the shampoo bars.

B.E.A.C.H. membership is annual starting from World Ocean Day - June 8th. Make a difference by joining B.E.A.C.H. 100% of donations help bring awareness and solutions to plastic marine debris in Hawai`i. To become a member or renew your membership, see our membership page.



Click on the links for the new B.E.A.C.H. and Plastics brochures



Hawaii Island council bans polystyrene foam food containers! 

Hawaii County Council members voted
7 - 2 to ban polystyrene foam containers from use in Hawaii County starting 1st July 2019. Thank you to everyone who supported this bill. This is the second ban on polystyrene foam in Hawai`i.  

Bill 13 Draft 4 
Agenda



Honolulu City Council passes plastic bag bill

B.E.A.C.H. volunteers who testified in support of Bill 59 Thank you to everyone who sent in testimony online and showed up to testify at the hearings in support of Bill 59, plastic bag ban! Since October 2016, it's been a long hard struggle to reach this point where the Honolulu City Council unanimously voted to pass Bill 59 FD1 CD3 on Wed. 12th July, 2017 at Honolulu Hale.

The bill bans thick plastic checkout bags and compostable bags on 1st January, 2020. It also raises the 10 cent fee per check-out bag to 15 cents until 31st December, 2019. Mayor Caldwell signed the bill into law on July 24, 2017 at Magic Island.
Click here for more information

10 cent fee will increase plastic bag problem
Honolulu Star Advertiser, 9th May, 2017.



MAUI COUNCIL BANS STYROFOAM! 

Maui County Council members voted unanimously to ban polystyrene foam containers from use and sale in Maui County.  Thank you to everyone who supported this bill. The bill was signed into law on 5th June, 2017 by Mayor Arakawa and is the first ban on polystyrene foam in Hawai`i, leading the way for the rest of the islands. Bill 127 (2016)

For more information: 
MauiCounty.us/polystyrene.



Buy a gift that makes a difference
Ocean friendly gifts such as B.E.A.C.H. reusable stainless steel water bottles, glass straws, reusable bamboo utensils sets and reusable organic cotton shopping and produce bags make great gifts for family and friends.

Vacuum insulated stainless steel bottles by Fifty/Fifty Stainless steel bottles by Pura Glass straws by
Glass Dharma

bamboo utensil sets Reusable organic cotton produce bags Reusable organic cotton shopping bags (sold out)

Please click on the support page for more information.




Plastic microbeads banned in personal care products

President Obama signed the bill banning plastic microbeads in personal care products nationwide. The ban will be phased in over 2 years starting on July 1st, 2017. The new law bans all plastic microbeads in personal care products and does not allow a loophole for "biodegradable" plastic microbeads. This is a great victory for the marine environment and marine life. Click here for news story.



Are you using personal care products wiith plastic microbeads? click here for more information about how plastic microbeads are polluting the oceans.

Microplastic found overwhelming our oceans, KITV4 News, Friday 24th April, 2015

Funny, but serious movie about plastic microbeads



Sam Suds, animated cartoon about PVC - polyvinyl chloride, number 3 plastic, the poison plastic. For more information about PVC click here.



Governor Ige signed House Bill 525 banning smoking & tobacco at all state parks


Photo of Makena State Park: © Suzanne Frazer
Friday, 19th June, 2015, Governor Ige signed HB525 into law banning smoking and tobacco products at all Hawai`i State Parks. The law takes effect on 1st July, 2015. Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i brought the need for a law to ban smoking in state parks to the attention of Representative Cindy Evans who then introduced HB525. B.E.A.C.H. provided written and spoken testimony in strong support of the bill throughout the hearings as well collecting thousands of cigarette butts from state parks. Click here for more information





SAVE SEA TURTLES - USE ORGANIC COTTON PRODUCE BAGS

photo: © Ron Prendergast
photo: © B.E.A.C.H.

B.E.A.C.H. is continuing to raise awareness of the harm of plastic bags to sea turtles and is providing a solution to this problem through encouraging use of reusable cotton produce bags in addition to reusable shopping bags. For more information about this plastic bag reduction campaign, click
here.



LANA`I, MAUI AND MOLOKA`I BEACHES AND PARKS ARE NOW SMOKE-FREE
Bill 24 banning tobacco use at all Maui County beaches and parks passed the final reading on Earth Day and was signed into law by the Acting Mayor on Tuesday 22nd April, 2014 making all county beaches and parks on Lana`i, Maui and Moloka`i smoke-free and tobacco-free immediately. Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i provided written and spoken testimony in strong support of this bill. This is the 3rd county in Hawai`i that B.E.A.C.H. has helped get a smoking ban on all beaches and parks. Click here for more information on the new law.






SAVE SEA BIRDS - USE REUSABLE UTENSIL SETS


Photo: © Robert Shallenberger
Reusable Bamboo Utensil Sets
Help protect Hawai`i's sea birds by using reusable utensils instead of plastic ones.

B.E.A.C.H. resuable bamboo utensil sets are now available and make great gifts. Click here for more information.



NEW SMOKE-FREE BEACHES AND PARKS STARTING 1/1/2014!
On O`ahu, all City and County of Honolulu beaches and parks are now smoke-free!!
Enjoy the cleaner, healthier beaches. For more information on the new law and educational materials click here.





Radiation and marine debris

All of the marine debris that Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i (B.E.A.C.H.) uses for educational purposes was collected well before the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan and does not have radiation. Also all of the marine debris that B.E.A.C.H. volunteers are sorting was collected prior to September 2012 when the first items of tsunami debris were found in Hawai`i.

Unfortunately there has been no testing for radiation by the Hawai`i State Department of Health (the department responsible for monitoring radiation) on the beaches on O`ahu and Hawai`i islands that are known for the largest accumulations of marine debris on those islands and there's been no testing at all on any beach on the islands of Lana`i, Moloka`i, Ni`ihau and Kaho`olawe (which also have beaches that accumulate marine debris). Therefore there is no information on radiation for these beaches. Any item
on beaches that accumulate marine debris can have radiation.

To learn more about the issues concerning radiation from Japan, please click here.




Sundance Film Festival

Brita Filter For Good Film Project winner, January 2011: "Plastic Tide"
Short film about the problem of marine debris in Hawai`i interviewing B.E.A.C.H. co-founder Suzanne Frazer at Kahuku Beach.




"Bag It" documentary
Award winning film about plastic shopping bags, single use disposable plastic products, plastic in our oceans, environment and how chemicals from plastic end up in our bodies. Click here for a screening near you.




"Salty Sandcrab" webcomic (click below)







Coral Photograph Credit to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce and Dr. James P. McVey. Dolphins, Japanese Angelfish, Green turtle, and Laysan Albatross photos by James Watt. Humpback whale photo by James Mobeley

Unless noted otherwise, the contents of this website are Copyright © 2006-2022 B.E.A.C.H. Please ask permission before using any text, graphics or photographs from this website.

The B.E.A.C.H. recycling caps logo was designed by B.E.A.C.H. and is owned by B.E.A.C.H.
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