SPONGES are made from PLASTIC - polyurethane for the soft stuff and scouring side made of polyethylene. They never break down in landfill, and while they are in your kitchen they are one of the worst breeding grounds for bacteria. It's no wonder that we throw them away after only using them for a short while.
Why are they such a 'bacteria breeder'? - Because of their massive surface area (all those little pores....) and how they hold water. This combo makes for a bacterial heaven.
Think about how often you throw these away...for hygiene reasons it should be weekly unless you commit to regular disinfection (yeah....that's gonna happen). So take that and work out how much that costs per year.....its about $80!
But there is an option - you can change from your plastic nasty sponge to something like this - a coconut scourer. These will cost you around $4 each BUT:
They last - we have been using ours for 3 months, and at this rate we will use 2-3 this year which will cost about $12. They dry COMPLETELY and don't hold bacteria. When you're done, you can toss them in your compost and the world doesn't pay a price for you cleaning your kitchen.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic
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Turn your old garments into new clothes! H&M has installed a recycling machine called "Looop" in Stockholm, Sweden. The shipping container-sized machine cleans the fabric, breaks it down into fibers and spins it into yarn again. The process takes about 5 hours and uses no water or chemicals. Do you know that H&M in Australia also accepts all old clothing including bed linen and clothes not bought at H&M?
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #recycling

A University of Queensland study in 2012 found that 78 per cent of the plastic ingested by deceased turtles it studied was from helium balloons. Their study confirmed turtles were wrongly identifying the remnants of balloons as a food source. Turtles are unable to throw up the balloons and as gas is released from other foods they digest, they begin to float and suffer a long and painful death. Please stop using balloons - there are many other more environmentally friendly ways we can show off a celebration.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #turtles #balloons #balloonsblow

He died because someone left their plastic frisbee on the beach.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic

This is a NEW product - Free Range Peeled Hard Boiled Eggs that you can buy at selected Woolworths stores. While many other companies are looking at reducing their single use plastic for print, "Sunny Queen Farms" are increasing theirs.
The problem with plastic is that most of it isn't biodegradable. It doesn't rot, like paper or food, so instead it can hang around in the environment for hundreds of years. More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from land. Experts think that by 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean will weigh more than the amount of fish in the ocean. All animals, whether they live on land or in the sea, can be hurt by plastic. They can get trapped in bigger items such as carrier bags or food packaging. Birds, fish and shellfish can mistake plastic for food when it has broken down in to smaller pieces. One in three sea turtles, and around 90% of seabirds, have eaten it.They can't digest plastic so their stomachs can become full, meaning they don't have room for actual food. Each year, 100,000 animals in the sea are killed by plastic.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic
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New arrival in some stores
Shopping trolleys made in Australia from 100% recycled Australian plastic.
Not only are the hybrid shopping trolleys better for the environment and local economy, they're lightweight and look great. They large trolleys are made from 152 recylced milk bottles and are perfect for big shops. The smaller trolleys are made from 66 bottles for when you just need a few things! For more information on these trolleys visit https://www.supercart.com.au/
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #recycling

Make up removal pads and wipes - Beautifully soft and effective but a fast way to generate loads of waste and there is an alternative.....
First up, many of those wipes and some pads are blended with materials like rayon to give them strength. Rayon is a synthetic fibre and is classed as a plastic.
You can purchase a 'microfibre' face cleansing cloth quite easily in many supermarkets now but the catch here is what happens when you WASH them and thousands of microfibres of synthetic material (plastics) are washed into our treatment plants and out into the oceans. Read the label - they're made from POLYESTER which is a plastic.
THEN THERE IS THE REUSABLE SOLUTION:
Upfront investment of ~$11 - $20 for 5 -12 pads depending on where you get them. 100% cotton or bamboo - no microfibres to damage the oceans. Reusable and machine washable - chuck them in with your normal clothes OR just make your own pads from an old t-shirt.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plasticfree
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A baby will use around 5,000 nappies over their nappy-wearing life. That produces a mountain of waste equivalent to 130 black bin-bags full. More disposable nappies are found in our household waste than anything else. It is thought the plastics in disposable nappies could take hundreds of years to decompose.
Compared with reusable nappies:
While disposable nappies are made of chemicals, paper pulp, plastics and adhesives, real nappies are mostly natural. Organic cotton and hemp nappies for example.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic

Cabbage Tree Bay (by Shelly Beach in Manly) is a no-take reserve. However, we've often find fishing lines, sinkers and hooks in this area. People are not permitted to fish by any method, harm marine animals or plants, or collect marine organisms whether dead or alive in the area. The reserve covers about 20ha, including the entire bay, rocky shores and beaches from the southern end of Manly Beach to the northern end of Shelly Beach Headland.
If you see someone doing the wrong thing please report it by using this link or call 1800 043 536.
Remember the info needed is
1. the time and date you saw the activity
the type of activity you saw (for example, abalone theft, lobster theft, taking protected fish)
2. a description of the activity
the make, model or registration details of any vehicles or vessels involved in the activity (if possible)
3. the Fisheries Compliance Zone
the location of activity (description as accurate as possible)
4. your contact details (optional).
https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/.../report-illegal-fishing...
Pic of dead Dusky Whaler found by Dave Thomas in 2015 at Shelly Beach.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #beachcleanup #loveManly

Want to know more about what you can do?
Start change with the power you have:
Full interview can be found here:
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2SQNCn9
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2YCCejQ
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/googlewcwd
Anchor: http://bit.ly/2KTPLfp
"Northern Beaches Clean Up Crew" was founded to solve an immediate litter problem on the local beaches in Sydney. 5 years on, Malin from Kobie and the Crew are leading the campaign against single-use plastic in their communities and neighbourhoods. Thank you to @whatcanwedo.podcast for the interview.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic #beachcleanup

211 million kilos of plastic packaging waste was generated by Amazon last year! All the air pillows, bubble wrap, foam packaging and other plastic that they ship would circle the Earth 500 times, according to a new report from Oceana. Even worse, up to 10 million kilos of Amazon's plastic waste ended up polluting the world's freshwater and marine ecosystems last year. That's the equivalent of dumping a delivery van full of plastic into the oceans every 70 minutes! Most of their plastic isn't destined for recycling and instead goes into landfills, incinerators or just straight into the environment where it stays forever. That's just a few of the many reasons to stay away from Amazon!
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic

When you pour hot water into a cup with a plastic lining, what do you think happens to your coffee? ⠀
In a recent study by Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur researchers set out to evaluate the degradation of plastic lined films in single-use cups. They found that 4 out of 5 disposable paper cups were lined with HDPE grade of plastic. In the experiment scientists poured hot water (85–90 °C) and left the samples for 15 minutes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Using fluorescence microscopy they discovered that approximately 25,000 micron-sized microplastic particles leached into one cup of water (100 ml). The analysis also found the presence of heavy metals—iron, chromium, and cadmium in particular—in the cup’s plastic lining. The report suggests that the Ingestion of microplastics, ions, and heavy metals regularly while using these single-use products can expose us to potential health risks in the future, like cancer and infertility.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic #coffee #takeaway

For every 85 grams (3 ounces) of mussels you eat, you’re ingesting an estimated 70 particles of microplastic, a new study by the University of Hull and Brunel University London finds.
Researchers took samples of wild mussels from eight coastal locations around the UK and eight supermarkets. 100% of them contained microplastics and some contained other debris like cotton and rayon. Mussels eat by filtering seawater through their bodies, ingesting small particles of plastic along with their food.
Analysis shows around half of the debris found in the mussels was microplastics such as polyester and polythene and 37% was other debris including textiles such as cotton and rayon. Seafood is only one way humans ingest microplastics, as they’ve been found in other food sources and drinking water, and can even be inhaled, University of Hull environmental scientist Jeanette Rotchell said. Single-use plastic is responsible for nearly 90% of ocean pollution.
#plasticpollution #mussels #northernbeachescleanupcrew