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Northern Beaches Clean Up Crew
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Illegal dumping comes with a fine. Purposely doing it to cause harm to a native animal (bush turkey) is also illegal. The first photo was taken at 9am on the 13th of October on path between Sydney Road & Tower st in Manly. Sophie reported it to the council who have said they will sort it this week. By 5pm there was more junk on the pile . How people can get away with doing this in pure daylight we don’t know but we hope they get caught and charged a big fine. It is not only a nasty act but it is also damaging the local environment and making the area an eye sore. Bush turkeys are protected under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. Please report all illegal dumpings to the council immediately on 1300 434 434. Pic: Sophie Wilson #northernbeachescleanupcrew #litter  How much plastic is there in a pair of stretch jeans? This much! "Permacoach" have been using their composting systems to experiment with some of the things that we ultimately contribute to the waste stream. This pair of stretch jeans would usually have been repurposed but they sacrificed them to the compost bin just to see how much of the fabric was cotton and how much was plastic. We now know that most plastics do not break down. Our disposal options are to burn them and release toxic fumes or to not burn them and have them persist in our environment, possibly forever, as micro plastic particles. These micro plastics are now turning up in the bodies of animals, including us. Their long term consequences are unknown. Our best option is to take good care of the clothing we already have and to refuse to add anything to our wardrobe until we actually need to replace something. Let’s kill fashion #northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic #plasticfree #jeans #fashion   We did some scouting around for litter last week and we found these in Dee Why Lagoon. How old do you think they are? Another evidence that litter doesn't "go away".
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #litter  Cigarettes are the most littered item on earth. Worldwide, about 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered each year. Cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemicals, such as arsenic (used to kill rats) and formaldehyde (used to preserve dead animals, and humans, too). Littered cigarette butts leach toxic chemicals into the environment and can contaminate water. The toxic exposure can poison fish, as well as animals who eat cigarette butts. Cigarette filters may look like cotton, but 98 percent of cigarette filters are made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate) that are tightly packed together, which leads to an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of cigarette butts winding up as toxic trash each year. Cigarettes don’t break down naturally, they can gradually decompose depending on environmental conditions like the rain and sun. Estimates on the time it takes vary, but a recent study found that a cigarette butt was only about 38 percent decomposed after two years.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #cigarettes #loveManly #northernbeaches #trash #litter Microplastics have been discovered in apples, carrots, pears, broccoli and lettuce, studies have revealed. The tiny pollutants are thought to have been sucked into plants roots with water, and then travelled up the stem into the leaves and, where possible, fruits. Scientists have argued for decades that this was 'impossible', claiming they were 'too large' to fit through the pores in the roots. Microplastics have previously been identified in meats including chicken, canned fish and shellfish. A separate study published this week found that plants containing microplastics grew smaller with shorter roots, reducing their yield and nutritional value. 'Today we're calling for an urgent investigation into what these toxins are doing to our health. Now more than ever we must listen to the scientists, not the plastic lobby.' #northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic #microplastics  Disposable coffee cups are lined with a waterproof plastic called polyethylene which makes them non-recyclable and a contaminant. On top of that, these cups release methane gas in landfill. So in short, a non-disposable cup is your best choice! Many meat trays are made of polystyrene which IS recyclable, but small pieces of the product tend to break off and get mixed in with other recyclables, causing contamination. As a result, most councils don't accept polystyrene in the kerbside bin.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plasticfree  Three Coles Express single-use coffee cups in the gutter on Raglan street in Manly this afternoon but as far as we know there's not even a Coles Express in Manly. This is again evidence that single-use coffee plastic travels with help from people, the wind and even storm pipes to end up in the ocean. It is estimated Australians use 1 billion single-use coffee cups every year. That's approximately 2,700,000 paper coffee cups thrown out every day! You make a difference today by replacing that single use tea/coffee cup with a reusable cup.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #plastic   Broken glass is something we find at all our clean ups. Animals out in the wild often cut open their paws by unknowingly walking over broken glass. They can also be impaled by glass, which often leads to death. Another common problem is wildlife getting their heads or paws stuck in glass jars. Now authorities are keeping a watch on a treasured Aboriginal site in Allambie Heights after late night revellers smashed beer bottles and left rubbish near rock engravings created before European settlement. No respect for nature and no respect for The Elders of this country.
#northernbeachescleanupcrew #litter #rubbish Pigeons, ibis’ and many other bird species get such a bad wrap! But the problem, as always, starts with us! #northernbeachescleanupcrew #litter #rubbish  A new study by the University of Newcastle in Australia has found that in average, people ingest 5 grams of plastic every week, or 2,000 microplastic particles. That's the equivalent of eating a credit card.  A disgruntled Coles shopper has lambasted the supermarket over excessive packaging on her latest online order, branding it a “blatant disregard” for the planet. The customer, from Canberra, took to the supermarket giant’s Facebook page to express her discontent over the amount of fruit and vegetable bags used to package her fresh produce, despite requesting to have no bags. “Having one onion or one lemon in a plastic bag is really not necessary and makes me quite furious about the waste and blatant disregard for the climate,” she said. However a Coles spokesperson responded to the customer’s post online, saying it wasn’t possible to omit plastic fruit and vegetable bags for “health and safety reasons”. “We can advise that plastic bags are essential to keep your items together during the shopping process, and are necessary for health and safety reasons with some products,” the spokesperson said. #northernbeachescleanupcrew #plasticfree   Fines for dropping a cigarette butt in the ACT will increase dramatically from $60 to $500 while littering a coffee cup will incur a $150 fine under the ACT Government’s rigorous new littering laws. Under the new laws that were passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, small-items littering, such as tickets or food wrappings, will incur a $150 fine instead of $60. A framework was also introduced for escalating offences, where penalties increase according to the volume, mass or nature of litter dumped. Dumping under 10 litres of litter will attract a $500 fine, 10 to 200 litres will attract a $1,000 fine, while 200 to 1000 litres will incur a $1,500 fine. Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter on the planet, and have a significant impact on the environment, releasing toxic chemicals and microplastics. With a hotter and drier climate, cigarettes present a real fire risk to our bush capital, with 13 per cent of grass fires in the ACT started by cigarettes. The ACT Government currently spends $3 million a year cleaning, with Access Canberra receiving 1,178 reports of illegal dumping during the first seven months of 2019. #northernbeachescleanupcrew #litter  This is what was pooed out by a Magpie in Native ARC Inc. hospital this week. The bird was emaciated, lethargic and extremely unwell. After tlc and fluids the bird was able to pass the object. Upon inspection the item was a mix of balloon, plastic and rubber band. This is a great example of why balloons and plastic should never be 'released' and why we all need to take care in how we dispose of waste. The bird is recovering well but is one of the lucky few that made it to medical care. It is estimated millions of birds die each year as a result of plastic ingestion. #northernbeachescleanupcrew #balloonsblow #balloons   Today is World Food Day! 🌏 A staggering 7 million tonnes of food is wasted in Australia each year - which to give it context, would look a little like this if dumped into Sydney Harbour. #northernbeachescleanupcrew #waronwaste  Most of the bottled water you buy is just glorified tap water. There are a few brands whose water really comes from springs and mountain streams, but most are just tap water that’s been purified.
 Who in the marketing department thought there was a need for this?  We thought it was difficult to import food to Australia but we guess plastic wrapped food is easier because it's sealed. Do we need this?  The sea starts here. Lots of litter, particularly cigarette butts end up here. Cigarettes are the most littered item on earth. Worldwide, about 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered each year. Cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemicals, such as arsenic (used to kill rats) and formaldehyde (used to preserve dead animals, and humans, too). Littered cigarette butts leach toxic chemicals into the environment and can contaminate water. The toxic exposure can poison fish, as well as animals who eat cigarette butts. Cigarette filters may look like cotton, but 98 percent of cigarette filters are made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate) that are tightly packed together, which leads to an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of cigarette butts winding up as toxic trash each year. Cigarettes don’t break down naturally, they can gradually decompose depending on environmental conditions like the rain and sun. Estimates on the time it takes vary, but a recent study found that a cigarette butt was only about 38 percent decomposed after two years.  The proliferation of single-use plastic around the world is accelerating climate change and needs to be urgently halted. Plastic production is expanding worldwide and plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle, from its production to its refining and the way it is managed as a waste product. This plastic binge threatens attempts to meet the Paris climate agreement. It means that by 2050 plastic will be responsible for up to 13% of the total “carbon budget” – equivalent to 615 coal-fired power plants – says research. After the extraction of fossil fuels to produce plastic, the carbon footprint of a material which has become ubiquitous across the globe continues through the refining process, and on well past its useful life as a drinks bottle or plastic bag, through the way it is disposed of and the plastic afterlife. Disposable plastic found in packaging and fast-moving consumer goods forms the largest and fastest-growing segment of the plastic economy. That's why "Northern Beaches Clean Up Crew" supports today's climate strike and hope that soon the production of single-use, disposable plastic will end - for us, for the oceans and for the future.  "Our coast, our mission" found a blue tongued lizard while cleaning up a dumped bean bag. The lizard was quite distressed with a mouth and throat full of beans. They rushed him to the Southcoast Animal Hospital and are happy to share that he has since been released back to his home. This is a firsthand account of how a careless attitude towards plastic use can affect those around us. We have seen it locally too, especially around Curl Curl lagoon and Freshwater beach.  |
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