Going drastic on plastic

Hundreds showed up at Waihī Beach for an emergency beach clean last month, which was featured on the evening TV news Sustainable Waihī Beach reported the following:

“Well, Cyclone Hale stirred up the Moana, swirled it around some and spat out a considerable amount of nano, micro and macroplastics onto our beach This was a 50/50 split of consumable plastics and nurdles

We were lucky to have Sustainable Coastlines onboard, and they came down to Waihī Beach for an emergency beach clean on Tuesday, 17th January There was huge community support shown, with hundreds of people turning out to help

Multiple agencies dropped everything to assist, and we must remember our fabulous Surf Lifesaving Club, who fed and watered everyone We were honoured to have Reon Tuanau, Garston Smith and Kararaina Sydney from Te Whānau-aTauwhao opening the beach clean with a karakia

The results of the Sustainable Coast-

After registering at the Waihī beach RSA at 10am on Sunday 5th February, the cyclists will follow several routes each with an experienced local team leaders The ‘ easy rider’ is around the village and surf club, checking out the cafés and boutique shops, another goes out to Bowentown

The emphasis will be on safe riding, while enjoying a unique fun cycling outing at stunning Waihī Beach

For further information, visit eventfinda co nz/ frocksonbikes or waihibeachinfo co nz Article and photo: Supplied lines targeted clean (sample A) were eyeopening - within the 100 x 20m area, 2,988 pieces of macroplastic were recovered, weighing 4,568 grams The litter density per 1,000m2 was 1,494 - so in basic terms, it was not a good result We also had a sample B taken from random beach cleans in exchange for a free coffee This was mainly random, more oversized items and several nurdles; we discounted this sample

We are now working with stakeholders to look at the way forward, as this type of event will occur more regularly

We must keep our beaches clean and look at ways to stop plastic waste from reentering the Moana Unfortunately, we can’t just groom the beach with a tractor as they do elsewhere

We are also investigating the source of the millions of nurdles, of which a third sample, C, was taken We will update you once we have investigated this further Also, how many million could have potentially washed up on our beach ” Article supplied