Clearing thrash at Pulau Ubin

Our company has a special time off which we could use on any volunteer cause for up to a full day. One of the volunteer programmes that was floated about the emails was the beach clean up of Pulau Ubin. You can find out more about other beach clean ups here

We left our work stations mid-day and took a bus down to the sleepy Changi Village. Lunch was chicken rice although it did not fill our stomachs for the task for the rest of the afternoon. 

After reaching Pulau Ubin on a bum boat ride, we walked a short distance to the volunteer hub where NParks' staff gave us a briefing of the area we were cleaning up and the dos and dont's to watch up for when picking up the thrash.

We took a short ride to the beach site and spent 1 hour there. Initially, I thought that too many people had volunteered and there was not much thrash to be picked. I was very wrong. Within 30 minutes, we were already sweating as we were not used to the hot sun! By the end of the day, we had filled at least 30 thrash bags and picked up a chair along the way.

Returning to the mainland, my colleagues had a nice cold beer while I had nasi lemak. One of them commented that we could have stayed and pick up thrash for one more hour! However, I think the message from that short one hour resonated clearly - that we need to be mindful and not litter. the plastics we throwaway never disappear.