Ocean plastics..... Coming to a beach near you!! The hunt for plastic pollution on our beaches

Flyer for the plastic hunt.

On two occasions, some intrepid plastic warriors plundered nuggets of plastic from the sands of Muttonbird Beach.  The first event, before Christmas 2021 was a wet affair and resulted in only a few pieces of plastic from two holes.  After Christmas, on a nice warm day, we managed three holes, two at the top of the beach and one at the top of the wash zone.  Most plastic was found at the top of the wash zone, which was not expected as this area erodes away during winter.  This means it has less time to accumulate plastic. While we did find plastic, it was in very small concentrations, much lower than reports from elsewhere around the world.  In order to keep the levels low, as a community we need to keep up beach stewardship of the coast and participate in as many plastic reduction schemes as possible. 

Searching for plastic in the upper beach area adjacent to Muttonbird Beach lower carpark.

Great to see school age children getting involved.

Medical waste is becoming even more common on beaches during the pandemic.

While not plastic cigarette butts are persistent and dangerous to wildlife.