Each individual item collected from the clean-up was counted and recorded to input into The Australia Marine Debris Database which allows Tangaroa Blue to determine where the debris has originated from. Tangaroa blue can then drive change and collaborate with Australian Federal Agencies in an attempt to stop plastic pollution at the source.
After 5 days of blood (I'm looking at you G <accidental stab wound>), sweat, tears and laughs, it was rewarding to see the numbers of which items were most prominent; and with little surprise single-use plastics were the highest.
Every piece of plastic ever created still exists in some form today, and 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped in our oceans every year; again entering our food chain.
How can you help? Over one billion plastic coffee cups are used annually in Australia; grab yourself a re-usable Keep Cup! You can also pick yourself up a re-usable straw from Clean Coast Collective .
Did you know that Australian's use 118,000 tonnes of plastic bottles annually and one plastic bottle can break up into 10,000 individual microplastic pieces? Swap your plastic bottle for a re-usable water bottle. We will be releasing an OceanZen water bottle in November!
You can also read our 8 Tips You can Do To Help Save Our Ocean blog post for some more inspiration for your plastic-free journey!
Big thanks to the Clean Coast Collective for driving change for our ocean and bringing together the Trash Tribe team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnwX0gPfRic