Residents rally to keep oceans rubbish free

Wellingtonians are being urged to head to the beach this coming weekend to clear up rubbish and save marine life.

Every year tonnes of rubbish enters our oceans, harming wildlife, infecting fish and contaminating the entire food chain.

On Saturday September 17 twelve local groups will combine to clean up Wellington’s south coast beaches as part of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up Day.

Members of the public will be clearing rubbish all the way round from Owhiro Bay to Breaker Bay with organisers hoping to match last year’s effort which saw more than a tonne of rubbish removed from the coastline.

The groups collected over 10,000 individual pieces of rubbish last year, including 1255 plastic bags, 464 plastic bottles and 472 aluminium cans, coordinator Helen Kettles said.

“Debris like this can easily be ingested by marine species, such as penguins and seals, and can lead to starvation.

“Plastic debris also acts as a sponge, absorbing contaminants which can impact marine life once ingested.”

“When plastic breaks down in the environment it is ingested by small fish, this allows the harmful plastic molecules to work their way up the food chain,” Ms Kettles said.

International coastal clean-up day is the world’s largest volunteer effort to clean up shoreline trash.

Part of the northern Pacific is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of highly-concentrated debris.

Ocean and wind currents move in a circular pattern, creating a vortex, trapping floating rubbish in ever-increasing amounts to create a plastic soup.

Around 80 percent of the rubbish that forms the patch comes from land.

The exact size of the patch is unknown, but estimates range from an area the size of the state of Texas to one larger than the continental United States.

Volunteers should arrive at one of the location sites on the coast by 11am; organisers will be wearing fluoro vests.

All rubbish will be gathered up at 12.15 and taken to Lyall Bay to form one large pile.

There will be a sausage sizzle afterwards where participants can mingle.

Details:

• When: Saturday 17 September, 11.00am - 12.00pm.
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• Where: Meet at one of twelve meeting places (see map with locations). Look out for organisers in fluoro vests.
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• What to Bring: Bags and gloves will be provided. If you have your own gardening gloves please bring them along.
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• For more information contact southcoastcare@gmail.com or visit our Wellington South Coast Clean-up Facebook page.
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• Postponement date: Sunday 18 September (only if the weather is really bad).
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