An international group of environmentalists gathered at the Black Sea coast last week to clean some of Bulgaria's wildest beaches. In five days they collected over 200 bags of rubbish as well as oil drums and car bumpers.

"We saw the state of the beaches last December and realized that if we didn't do something then no one would," said Filka Sekulova, a member of Za Zemyata (For the Earth), the Bulgarian organization that helped coordinate the cleaning campaign. "Tourists just don't care about the mess - if they see someone else dumping rubbish they do it themselves," she added. Their campaign focused on the beaches around Sinemorets, near the Turkish border, which were part of a restricted military zone until eleven years ago. The area is rich in bio-diversity and its beaches are arguably the most beautiful in Bulgaria. In five days the group of around 80 volunteers cleaned several kilometers of coastline. "I've been amazed by how hard everyone has worked," said Sekulova. "The more rubbish we find the harder we work - people are really passionate about this."

Although a lot of the garbage is washed ashore by the sea, a substantial amount of it comes from tourists using the beaches. Plastic bottles make up the bulk of the rubbish but volunteers also discovered used medical equipment that they suspect had been dumped at sea.

Za Zemyata and EYFA (European Youth For Action) from Holland organized the campaign and invited people from all over Europe to participate. A special ecosystem operated in the camp to allow those from less wealthy countries to participate. The daily fee was set according to the purchasing power of individual countries, which meant that Germans paid 13 leva per day for food whilst Bulgarians paid four leva. "In this way westerners can subsidize the camp," said a spokesman from EYFA. "The fees don't cover the cost of the camp - we have to rely on additional funding," he added.

Volunteers camped next to the beach and shared the daily tasks of cooking, washing, and maintaining the camp. "It's based on everyone taking part as they should in society," said the EYFA spokesman.

Any cultural differences between participants were soon overcome. "The cleaning brought everyone together," said Sekulova. "We all had a common goal."

The camp aimed at encouraging local people and volunteers to take more responsibility for their environment and to raise awareness of the human impact on nature. Organizers have been satisfied with the results so far. The local community reacted positively and the Mayor of Sinemorets was very supportive. He allowed them to camp in the natural park and provided electricity and water. Locals and tourists have thanked them for their work and one cafe owner offered free coffee.

"We are trying to encourage people to help and tell them that it can be fun to clean," said Sekulova. During the first week there was little integration with locals and the organizers felt that there had not been enough contact with tourists. They planned a special cleaning day on Wednesday and hoped that more tourists and local people would get involved. "Until we see the results of this it's difficult to assess the success of the campaign," said Sekulova.

The beaches are rented by various businessmen who are supposed to keep them clean but have not been doing so. This frustrates locals who are concerned that the natural beauty of the coast is being destroyed by tourism. In one year the dunes on the main beach were destroyed to provide sand for building work and three beach bars were constructed. A local shepherd expressed concern that beach bars and tourism would soon spoil the entire coastline. "This has happened in the last few years and the people here aren't happy about it. They don't pollute so much and they're not used to cleaning the beaches," said Sekulova. "There is little the mayor can do because the businessmen have contacts in the government and can bypass his authority," she said.

Za Zemyata is planning further work in the area to encourage environmentally friendly tourism (ecotourism) and to publicize the destruction of local beaches.

Camp participants' reactions were mixed. Maria Georgievska from Macedonia was very satisfied with their work. "Even though we have to get up at seven every morning it's great to see how much we've done," she said.

Christian Jacob from Germany was less positive. "I have my doubts about this action," he said. "It seems that the beaches will be polluted again in two week's time. Sometimes it feels like we're fighting the wind." He added that it is more important to educate people than to clean the beaches.

The EYFA spokesman agreed that people's thinking needs to be changed through education and awareness campaigns but felt that it is also very important for people to see the volunteers at work. "If they see us working and caring about the environment they will realize that they can do this for themselves," he said.