Over 50,000 pieces of rubbish have been removed from seven remote World Heritage beaches in Tasmania’s southwest by a dedicated team of beach cleaners.
The 14 volunteers from Team Clean meticulously documented their findings during the week-long mission, which included 1,790 fishing bait box straps among the 49,048 items removed.
This latest effort brings their total collection to nearly 900,000 pieces of rubbish from the World Heritage Area since the project began in 1999.
“Tassie’s southwest coast is home to some of the most extraordinary beaches on earth,” coordinator Matt Dell said.
“But every day, thousands of pieces of plastic wash up onto the shore, endangering marine life and polluting this globally-recognised ecosystem.”
The team’s most significant find was over 500 kilograms of trawl net discovered on Noyhener Beach.
At Port Davey, an exposed ocean beach harboured 15,646 items, including 484 bottle caps.
Spain Bay revealed several unique discoveries, including a 1970s-era CSIRO drift card, a toy soldier and a printer cartridge.
“We are absolutely committed to protecting our ocean and wild coastlines from plastic pollution,” Dell said.
“But we need to see urgent action from government and industry to cut out these dangerous sources of pollution from being dumped in the ocean in the first place.”
