On a chilly Sunday morning in May, Wanderlightly joined forces with Living Ocean to run our first of many monthly Beach Clean-ups at Avalon Beach, the home of Living Ocean & one of the most stunning beaches along the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Like most of our beaches, from a distance its looks pristine & free from trash but take a closer look & you will see trash & as we found, loads of it.  We were completely overwhelmed at the amount of trash that was picked up in such a short space of time.  Now I mean really overwhelmed, really REALLY overwhelmed….like what the hell were we going to do with all of this trash overwhelmed!!  I have to say we were at a loss for a good half an hour!  But let me step back a little though to how this event came to fruition.

Over a delicious breakfast one morning (herbed mushrooms at Vespacific if I recall rightly), myself & Sal, a tireless volunteer for Living Ocean & one of my fellow mermaids, were chatting about how we could do more for our local environment & raise the awareness of Plastic Pollution.  Something that would both involve & engage the local community & show that this issue is right on our doorstep & that we ALL must be involved if we are to stem the flow of plastic going into the ocean.

The idea of a regular beach clean was born & it was only natural that Avalon Beach would be our first beach to clean being the home of Living Ocean.

A couple of weeks out from the event we created an event via Facebook & over the next few days more & more people joined & shared.  This is one thing that I truly love about social media.  The power to share & connect with people that you wouldn’t often cross paths with but share the same love & passion to clean up our oceans or reduce the amount of plastic we create.

On the Saturday before the clean-up it rained all day but on the Sunday morning the sun popped itself out for a deliciously clear but rather crisp autumn morning.  And boy was it crisp!  About 9° but the cool wind made it feel Arctic!

As we huddled together to make a plan I was so impressed with the amount that had donated their time on this chilly morning; a good 30+ people with kiddies in tow & the cutest of buttons with their own baskets.  I just love to see kids getting involved.  Its gives me such hope for the future to see these little Eco warriors rolling up their sleeves & its so part of their nature to protect the ocean & earth.  

So off they went, buckets in tow, woolly hats tucked on tight.

Within 15 minutes the boys were back, giant tubs filled with remnants of past parties.  They tipped their treasure into the Large Plastic tubs that I had collected from the Op shop the day before (& one on the way to the clean up off the side of the road) and I had this sinking feeling that we had underestimated the amount that we thought would be collected.  The 4 tubs were not going to even be close to enough to hold the trash!

After 45 mins with most of the team bag & buckets, tubs & bags overflowing I knew we had underestimated!   I couldn’t & still cannot believe how much trash was picked up in such a short space of time & from a small beach 1/2km long!  A beach that looks pristine at first glance.

It took us another 4 hours to sort through it all, separating recyclable material from general waste & recording it for Tangaroa Blue.  These guys do an amazing job of collecting, removing & reporting on marine debris so we have a better understanding if it.

So what did we find the most of in our first Beach Clean-up?   Party stuff!

Alcohol cans, bottles & plastic bottles had a combined total of 643 or 1/4 of the trash collected.  Plastic food wrappers with Chip bags & snack wrappers featuring highly came in at 271.  Cigarette butts?  Well, we stopped counting at 262, the smell was just too overwhelming!  Plastic BBQ plates, an entire set of plastic cutlery still in its plastic holder & a set of BBQ skewers.   Imagine the damage they could do if they had made it into the ocean & became food for marine animals?  The next big quantity of items we found were grey plastic supermarket bags, what better to carry your snacks & drinks to the beach right?  You think taking one bag won’t be harmful …..  think again.  These can blow out of your bins, down drains & into the ocean.  In the water they mimic a jelly fish which are many marine animals food source.  This is not going to be pretty in a turtles tummy!  Don’t get me wrong I’m no party pooper & there is no better view for a party, but if you take stuff to the party, you take your trash out when you leave!  There is just no excuse to leave your waste were you sat.  It’s just bad form!!

Some other notable items we found were a headless fibreglass statue called Vanessa; Paul took home a lovely Cutlery holder for that special find!  A double blow up camping mattress & pillow, half a skateboard & a Surfboard in very bad shape & the wheel to a golf cart……..where does this stuff all come from?!