Three swimmers began a gruelling 70-kilometre swim around Malta on Friday afternoon, as they seek to raise awareness about marine litter.

Swimmers Neil Agius, Gilbert Bartolo and Richard Zerafa jumped in the water at Marfa at 6pm, taking the first strokes in what will be a 24-hour test of their will and determination.

Starting in Marfa, the swimmers will go on throughout the night, swimming clockwise around the island’s coast arriving back at Marfa by around 6pm on Saturday. 

They will be stopping briefly every 30 minutes or so to sip water and eat small portions of food.

The initiative, which is aimed at creating awareness about the amount of plastic waste we generate and how we can reduce it, was dreamt up by Mr Agius, who has previously represented Malta in the Olympics. 

Mr Zerafa told the Times of Malta he had been training for the swim since September last year and hoped to make it in under 24 hours. 

The trio of Maltese swimmers are also hoping to promote sustainable tourism for the Maltese islands and economy by reducing the generation of plastic waste in the tourism industry.

To show your support for the initiative, you too can participate in the #WaveOfChange challenge by picking up three pieces of plastic waste and uploading a photo of it on social media with the hashtag #WaveOfChange.

The swimmers' route. Photo: Facebook

Swimmers were slathered with a water-repellent medicated cream as protection from potential jellyfish stings. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier