HomeCommunityBeach clean-up a Milbi Festival success

Beach clean-up a Milbi Festival success

tangaroa beach clean up
The group who took part in the recent beach clean-up.

A total of 87 kilograms of waste, including 326 cigarette butts, 73kg of brick and concrete and 56 plastic lids were collected from Oaks Beach in Burnett Heads during the Milbi Festival Tangaroa Beach Clean-up event.

The beach clean-up was an important part of the festival and promoted the benefit of rubbish removal for the region’s nesting turtles.

The waste collected has now been entered into Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) Database and included:

  • 326 cigarette butts
  • 85 hard plastic remnants
  • 81 soft plastic film remnants
  • 56 plastic lids
  • 35 miscellaneous paper scraps
  • 32 plastic food packaging
  • 31 bits of foam
  • 28 metal lids and pull tabs

ReefClean Project Coordinator Gladstone Region Ian Anderson said it was fantastic to see the community take part in the Milbi Festival event while gaining knowledge on why keeping the beaches clean was so important to the environment.

“It was such a pleasure to be able to come down [to] Oaks Beach again and witness the enthusiasm of the local community in maintaining a clean environment,” he said.

“I stayed on at Mon Repos after the event for the weekend and as luck would have it, I got to witness the first nesting turtle for the season.

“She was a very old flatback turtle who has been nesting at Mon Repos for the past 42 years and obviously she appreciated a clean beach.”

Ian said events like this beach clean-up were an important part of the organisation’s work, with the ongoing cleanliness of the environment critical to nesting turtles.

“All members of the community have the opportunity to get involved and learn more about the impacts of marine debris and what we can do to prevent it getting there in the first place,” he said.

“Clean beaches are important particularly for the Bundaberg Region for our nesting turtles, shore birds and marine life.”

You can find out more about the Tangaroa Blue Foundation here.

Other stories: First turtles welcomed with ringing of the bells

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