On Saturday, September 19, 2026, Mayekoo and Let’s Do It Ghana joined the global World Cleanup Day movement with a major coastal cleanup at Ananse Beach in Nungua, Accra, Ghana.
The activity brought together 576 volunteers from 21 participating organizations, including businesses, international organizations, social-impact groups, community organizations, and individual volunteers.
Together, they contributed approximately 1,728 volunteer hours toward restoring the coastline.
And by the end of the cleanup, 51.2 metric tonnes of waste and debris had been removed from the beach.
Impact at a glance
- 576 volunteers
- 21 participating organizations
- 1,728 volunteer hours
- 51.2 metric tonnes of waste and debris removed
- approximately 0.5 tonnes of recyclable plastic bottles recovered
The remaining 50.7 metric tonnes included wood, non-recyclable plastics, fishing nets, and other marine debris.
What collective action looked like
World Cleanup Day creates something that regular cleanup operations do not always achieve at the same scale: a moment when hundreds of people can see, firsthand, what coastal pollution looks like and what it takes to address it.
Volunteers worked across Ananse Beach collecting and consolidating waste while Mayekoo and its partners coordinated the broader cleanup operation.
The day brought together people who may normally work in very different sectors but shared one objective on the coastline.
“Strive for Five”
The 2026 World Cleanup Day campaign was organized internationally around the theme “Strive for Five,” led by Let’s Do It World.
The campaign calls for participation at a scale capable of helping shift environmental behavior and social norms.
At Ananse Beach, that idea became tangible.
More than five hundred people showed up.
Companies participated alongside community groups.
Civil-society organizations worked alongside individual volunteers.
And one coastline became a shared responsibility for the day.
The work did not begin on September 19
World Cleanup Day was a major moment for Ananse Beach, but Mayekoo’s work there began months earlier.
In 2026, Mayekoo has returned to the site repeatedly as part of a broader coastal-restoration effort combining:
- recurring cleanup
- mechanized removal
- coordinated waste haul-off
- volunteer participation
- environmental education
- community and municipal engagement
- longer-term stewardship
The September event added scale and visibility to work already underway.
And it does not end there
Removing 51.2 metric tonnes in one day is significant.
But coastal pollution is not solved by one successful event.
Waste continues to reach shorelines through dumping, inadequate waste systems, runoff, waterways, fishing activity, and tidal movement.
That is why Mayekoo’s focus remains on sustained restoration rather than one-day cleanup alone.
The question after World Cleanup Day is not simply:
How much did we remove?
It is:
How do we keep coming back — and reduce how much returns?
That is the work ahead.
Thank you
To the 576 volunteers, 21 participating organizations, community members, partners, and supporters who made the day possible: thank you.
51.2 tonnes removed.
576 volunteers.
1,728 volunteer hours.
One coastline brought together through collective action.
World Cleanup Day may have lasted one morning.
The restoration continues.