AT the Earth Month celebration and beach cleanup organized on Sunday by 2024 Miss Earth Heavenly Pangelinan, volunteers and this year’s Miss Earth Northern Marianas contestants helped remove trash at Tank Beach.
The event was scheduled from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
By 9:30 a.m., around 50 volunteers, with more on the way, had assisted with the cleanup.
Pangelinan is a resident of Kagman and selected Tank Beach as a cleanup site because, she said, it doesn’t get as much attention as “mainstream” beaches.
She said the cleanup of the jungle around the beach revealed the impact beachgoers had on the site.
“The majority of the trash we found were beer cans, beer bottles, and a lot of glass also,” she said. “When we kind of go into the trees there were tons of items we found. We found a cooler lid, a rope, so many random items people hid in there. Most of the trash we found was [made up of] alcohol [drink containers] …. Some of the packages were the older packaging so we’re like, ‘Dang this has been here forever.’ ”
For her part, Shane Solomon was at the site with coworkers from Marianas Dental Center. They saw Pangelinan’s social media call for volunteers and came to help.
She and her coworkers picked up litter on the beach, away from the entrance.
“There’s a lot of plastic – bottle caps, regular plastics, bottles of lotion, toothbrushes, pipes,” she said, listing the types of waste she found.
She said there was too much plastic at the site for any single organization to tackle alone, and that a regular cleanup effort could help.
“I think we have to do it weekly and encourage more people to come and help clean the site,” Solomon said.
Similar to Old Man by the Sea, which also faces ocean plastic wash-up, Tank Beach is lined by a fringing reef with the open ocean just beyond.
Pageant contestants
As part of the Earth Month celebration, the beach cleanup was the first official outreach activity for the 2025 Miss Earth Northern Marianas contestants: Aria Keilbach, Jolyn Sablan, Julony Indalecio, Ry’elle Brown, Akisha Seman, Dar Masga, Princess Sophia, Erich Manalo, Jessara Rogoropes, Janel Star, Precious Castro, and Angel Calage.
From left, 2025 Miss Earth Northern Marianas candidates Aria Keilbach, Jolyn Sablan, Julony Indalecio, Ry’elle Brown, Akisha Seman, Dar Masga, Jessara Rogoropes, Janel Star, Precious Castro and Angel Calage with 2024 Miss Earth Northern Marianas Heavenly Pangelinan. Not in photo: 2025 candidates Princess Sophia and Erich Manalo.
Various plastic items are scattered across Tank Beach.
Volunteers haul out trash during the cleanup at Tank Beach on Sunday, April 13.
Marianas Dental Center’s Shane Solomon, far right, said she and her coworkers encountered much plastic during the cleanup.
Some of the staff from Marianas Dental Center helped clean up Tank Beach.
