Beach clean-ups lift lid on our throwaway culture
Plastic and glass bottles made up the majority of rubbish collected in a Nelson beach clean up.
Gloved volunteers were out on Saturday to clean up parts of the Waimea Estuary.
Nelson Tasman Forest & Bird secretary Gillian Pollock helped organise the Richmond clean up, taking the event into her own hands as the Department of Conservation, which normally ran an annual event, weren’t involved this year.
A group of eight keen collectors met by Richmond’s green waste station at 8.15am and spent the morning on the cycle trail walking towards Redwood Rd and the Rough Island Bridge.
‘‘We launched out into the estuary whenever we saw rubbish.’’
Searching through plants, scanning the estuary and roaming the roadside uncovered rubbish to fill 10 bags.
Pollock said three bags were able to be recycled but most of the glass and plastic retrieved was too encrusted with dirt and grime to be recycled.
‘‘I think once it’s been ingrained with mud and sand and stuff they just can’t take it.’’
One of the most unworthy pieces of rubbish was a winter coat, she said.
‘‘Once upon a time it would’ve been a very good quality coat.’’
Other garbage included sheets of polystyrene and ‘‘all sorts of odd bits and pieces that might have come off boats or blown away from somewhere.’’
‘‘By far the most was plastic bottles and quite a few glass bottles.’’
One of the worst areas for rubbish was near the recycle refuse centre where Pollock thought the plastic blew out of the centre.
‘‘Another quite bad area is always Queen St where the cycle way is close to the road. A lot of that I think is thrown out of cars – takeaway meal packets.’’
She said it was good to know the bags of rubbish collected wouldn’t be harming the environment anymore.
‘‘Every bit we pick up, we are saving the life of our sea or marine mammal,’’ she said.
‘‘They all just swallow plastic because they don’t know what it is.
‘‘I always think, if I actually see someone dropping rubbish, I’m going to ask why, and see if I can get anywhere with them.’’
Other groups collecting on the day included Keep Richmond Beautiful, Waimea Inlet and a team in Mapua.
The Cable Bay area was cleaned up by another Forest & Bird group yesterday.