Tangaroa Blue needs volunteers for this year’s Cape York beach clean-ups. Photos: Supplied.
Cape residents and visitors are encouraged to get involved in the Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s upcoming beach clean-ups, which will remove tonnes of rubbish washed up across the peninsula.
The not-for-profit is currently gauging interest and will be taking cars of volunteers from Cairns to meet with local rangers, schools, community groups and others keen to get stuck in.
The Old Mapoon Clean-up will be held from 15 to 19 June, while the Chilli Beach Clean-up will be carried out from 20 to 24 July and the Five Beaches Loop Clean-up will keep attendees busy from 31 August to 4 September.
Tangaroa Blue senior operations coordinator Ebony Bail said more than 10 tonnes of plastic debris was removed from Cape beaches and taken to recycling facilities last year.
“We work very closely with traditional owners and the local Indigenous ranger groups to deliver the events. And we also have community members, businesses, government departments — we have lots of different partners come and join us for either a day or some of the days,” she said.
“If anybody sees a Tangaroa Blue clean-up happening, they’re more than welcome to stop, ask questions, grab some bags and gloves, and join in.
“We’re really happy for anybody interested to contact us and join. We have the option for people to drive themselves to a location, they don’t have to come in our vehicles, and can still camp with us and everything.”
Ms Bail said the annual clean-ups were usually a bit of fun too.
“There’s nothing like getting stuck into tons of marine debris. That is a bonding experience,” she said.
Tangaroa Blue founder, director and CEO Heidi Tait said in late April that more than 50 tonnes of marine debris had been removed from Chilli Beach alone since the first community clean-up there in 2012.
Volunteers from Cairns will join rangers and other Cape locals.
Ms Bail said: “Last year our number one found item was plastic lids and pots. Number two was plastic drink bottles and number three was foam insulation and packaging. Yeah, so anything really that floats. We get a lot of plastic.
“We categorise all the marine debris that we find to be included in the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database, or AMDI database.
“Tangaroa Blue’s motto is ‘If all we ever do is clean, that’s all we’ll ever do’. So it just is really important for us to use the AMDI database to create reduction plans and try and stop marine debris at its source.”
Tangaroa Blue created the AMDI database to record marine debris and litter. More than 30 million pieces of debris have been recorded since 2004 and about 20,000 people inputted data last year.
For more information about the Cape beach clean-ups, or to get involved, email [email protected].
