​This green sea turtle was found in Manly a week ago. It looked very weak and is currently in care. The cause of this turtle being sick = a balloon. With the oily fish Ella, the turtle has been eating under the watchful eye of her carer Rob, she has been able to pass the balloon - hopefully the rest of the string will come out on its own! The balloon is the cause of Ella having pneumonia and septicaemia!
If you would like to help out, please donate to Rob to help with vet bills and food for Ella: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rehabilitation-ella-green-sea-tu…
Balloons are in the top three most harmful waste items to wildlife. Birds and turtles not only ingest balloons, they actively select them as food. This is because a burst balloon often resembles a jellyfish, the natural food sources of many marine species like turtles.
Ingesting balloons, and the clips and strings attached to them, can cause intestinal blockages and results in a slow painful death through starvation. Marine animals don’t have the gastrointestinal pH levels to breakdown a balloon and for turtles, it may also cause floating syndrome. Trapped gases in the gut can cause a turtle to become buoyant, unable to dive for food—making them vulnerable to boat strikes and leading to starvation and severe dehydration.
Wildlife, both terrestrial and marine, can also become entangled in balloon ribbons or strings, causing injury or death through drowning, suffocation, or an inability to feed and avoid predators.
Even if balloons are disposed of "safely" they go to landfill where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, leaching potentially toxic substances into the soil and water. Why are some organisations like this so stubborn in regards to using balloons as "advertising fun?
Even if these balloons are biodegradable, it's greenwash. Natural latex may be biodegradable, but after adding chemicals, plasticizers and artificial dyes, how natural could it be? It may degrade after several years, but it’s surely not “biodegradable.”
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #balloons #turtle #loveManly
Pics: Australian Seabird Rescue Central Coast (a bunch of legends)

McGill University chemical engineering professor Nathalie Tufenkji decided to test tea bags after she was given one in a Montreal cafe that looked like it was made from plastic.
She asked her graduate student Laura Hernandez to purchase several tea bag brands from Montreal stores. The scientists then tested them to see if they left any plastic particles behind. The results, published in Environmental Science and Technology Wednesday, far surpassed the researchers' expectations.
"We were shocked when we saw billions of particles in a single cup of tea," Tufenkji told CBC News. In total, the researchers found that steeping a plastic tea bag at 95 degrees Celsius released around 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup. That's much more than other foods and beverages commonly contaminated with plastics, Tufenkji told New Scientist. "We think that it is a lot when compared to other foods that contain microplastics," she said. "Table salt, which has a relatively high microplastic content, has been reported to contain approximately 0.005 micrograms plastic per gram salt. A cup of tea contains thousands of times greater mass of plastic, at 16 micrograms per cup."
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic #tea

​WOOD PALLET PLANT SHELF - What repurposing things have you done?
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #repurposing