On Monday the 21st of May, I expected there to be much less plastic garbage and rubbish on Ipanema beach due to the inclement weather for beachgoers. Arriving at the beach at 18:00, my hopes were dashed as I took in the unsightly spectacle I have to come to dread: the usual plastic cups, drinking straws, plastic bags etc. littering this beautiful beach. The beach had got no respite from the onslaught of garbage left by thoughtless beachgoers. From Casa Laura Alvim to Colegio São Paulo, I collected 30 kilos along the waterline. Along the rest of the sands up to Arpoador and Praia do Diabo, I collected a further 20 kilos, making a total of 50 kilos, including broken polystyrene iceboxes used by beach vendors of beverages. The large volume of tiny polystyrene granules that coated the tide line at Praia do Diabo bore witness to the insidious threat posed by polystyrene. This easily gets into the marine food chain and is extremely difficult to remove. How do I know how many kilos I collected? I use 20-kilo ice cube bags and fill them by compressing the garbage down by punching it. When brim full, each bag weighs 10 kilos or more. I filled and emptied 5 bags into the garbage cans that day. 

The amazing thing is that people often put their rubbish in supermarket bags and then just leave them on or near the waterline where the tide and waves take them into the open sea. All they had to do was walk a short distance to the municipal garbage cans, some only 20 or 30 paces away. This is a good example of the type of garbage left near the waterline:

 Take a look at an ice cube bag and and the type of rubbish I normally collect in such a bag: