All over the world we are being submerged in an ocean of plastic waste. Disposable plastic is sprinkled around our streets and parks, washes down our gutters into rivers and the ocean, washes up on our beaches, destroys environments and kills wildlife.

our beach, Eurobodalla National Park

our beach, Eurobodalla National Park

For over twenty years we have been walking on our beach, remote from any major centre of population, and picking up anything that was not a part of the natural environment. In the last twelve months there has been an explosion of debris, here in a national park, with no suburban dwellings nearby. The varying rhythms of the waves bring in a carefully sifted selection every day. There were always the remains of helium balloons, the long ribbons and broken plastic balloon, there were always a few plastic bags that once contained fishing bait, and the odd plastic bottle. Now the plastic bottles are an epidemic, fishing rubbish proliferates, but more worrying are the many small pieces of broken plastic that have obviously been in the water for a long time.

balloon remnants, bottle, plastic pieces, rope
tackle box, bottles, plastic pieces, broken bucket
bottle, plastic bag, styrofoam, rope, pieces of plastic containers, icecream wrapper, balloon
can, bottle, glove, rope, bottle caps, plastic piece, balloon ribbon
this is from the road on the Point

These photos are of just some of the plastics collected over the last month on our beach on the south coast of NSW, Australia, and rubbish found on one day on the road in the National Park adjacent.

JOIN IN: Will you join me a quest to pick up plastic rubbish and take it somewhere safe, where it will not create any danger to the creatures of the sea and land? Some can be recycled, the rest may have to be stored in a safe land fill, until we can convince manufacturers and governments to help reduce the menace.

Let’s join together as BLOGGERS around the world to raise awareness of the danger disposable plastics present to the environment. We can tell stories of the endangered sea birds, turtles and fish, we can report on efforts to clean things up. We can ask our elected representatives and the suppliers of drinks etc to consider their actions. Here in Australia for example the largest bottled soft drink and water supplier Coca Cola Amatil resists demands to introduce a deposit scheme which we know would dramatically increase the return of plastic bottles, thus preventing them from ending up in rubbish tips and in the ocean.

What to Do: Once a month write a post and include photos of the rubbish you have collected from your streets, beaches, rivers, parks and so on. Use the title Pick Up Plastic on your post, and tell us your stories about this threat to the health of our planet. Link back to this post so that we can encourage each other and grow in strength and numbers. Let’s create the change we want to see, with a huge reduction in cheap disposable plastics, and a better quality environment for all life on earth.

COMPETITION: This month (until 15th March) we will have a competition to create a badge or logo to accompany our posts. If you are a graphics whizz please send your entry, and next month everyone can vote for their favourite, which wil then be adopted!

About these ads