Sushi Maki and volunteers clean up Fort Lauderdale Beach (includes video)

Sushi Maki teamed up with an activist group called Debris Free Ocean (DFO) and the City of Fort Lauderdale this past Saturday to clean up Fort Lauderdale Beach and celebrate a new location opening in October.

“Sustainability is important, not just for Sushi Maki but for any business,” said Sushi Maki CEO and founder Abe Ng. “There are trillions of tons of debris in the ocean, and it has probably increased during the pandemic with face masks, so the prioritization of recycling plastic is more important than ever.”

DFO has been working alongside the city of Fort Lauderdale and businesses to ban all single-plastic use.

“The City of Fort Lauderdale banned plastic straws citywide,” said Maddie Kaufman, DFO program and outreach director. “We can celebrate that and push for more regulations that will help prevent the pollution from reaching our business.”

Volunteers of all ages attended the beach clean up.

Sushi Maki, which has been focusing on sustainability for a decade, handed out goodie bags to reward the volunteers for their efforts.

Gretell Sanchez Perez is a senior student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in broadcast media and minor in e-marketing and social media. She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and the communication coordinator at the National Association of Journalists. Sanchez hopes to pursue her master’s degree in spanish language journalism and become a reporter/anchor in Miami.