Garbage bags at the ready, “long-distance activist” Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia’s Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along.
The 27-year-old sanitary engineer set out last month to walk a 300km stretch of coastline in northern Tunisia and clean up 30 beaches along the way.
He hopes the two-month trek will help convince authorities, holidaymakers and average Tunisians alike that the sea should not be used as a giant garbage dump.
With a sturdy pair of boots and a hat to shield him from the summer sun, Houij began his journey in the central coastal city of Mahdia and plans to finish in Solimane, 40km from the capital, Tunis.
The trip will take him through crowded hotspots such as Daar Chaabane in Nabeul, but also along secluded coves and shores.
“I believe in citizen mobilization and I chose to act ... and to raise awareness about the problem of pollution on our beaches,” the activist told reporters.
The Facebook page of his “300 Kilometers” campaign has more than 13,000 followers and is entirely independent, he said.
“No political party is welcome ... 300 Kilometers is a free, citizen initiative and will remain so forever,” he wrote on the page.
However, while Houij might be a dreamer, he is also realistic.
“The 300 Kilometers action is not really about cleaning... I know I’m just a drop of water in the ocean,” he said. “I want to raise public awareness and get people thinking: ‘Wait, it’s not normal, all these bottles, these caps ... all these plastic bags.’”
Since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, the proliferation of waste has steadily worsened across the country — in big cities, rural areas and beaches alike.
One contributing factor has been the absence of elected municipal councils. Between the fall in 2011 of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and local polls held in May this year, town halls were managed by “special delegations” that often neglected issues such as littering and waste management.
However, there is also a lack of environmental awareness among Tunisians, Tunisian Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development Riadh Mouakher said in the middle of last year as he announced the launch of a special “green police” unit to combat the North African country’s garbage woes.
At his first beach stop, Houji said he collected about 100kg of waste.
After that, he simply stopped weighing the bags.
Nearly 150km and 14 beaches later, Houij is astounded by the sheer volume of the waste that he has found along the shore.
“We’re talking tonnes of garbage... The more you clean, the more you find,” he said.
“I’ve seen a wide array of pollution, from the personal pollution of people who come to the beach through to the industrial pollution” of local and public companies, Houji added. “The authorities do not take the problem of pollution in Tunisia seriously.”
He is also frustrated with holidaymakers who treat him as a zabel (garbage collector) and do not hesitate to ask him to pick up their waste.
Reactions from those he meets along the way range “from one extreme to another,” he said.
“There are people who are very active, who encourage you and who help you clean up ... but others kill your desire to work for the cause,” he said.
“Each day brings enough trouble of its own, but the will is there ... there’s no reason for me to stop,” Houji said.
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