Women’s group collects data on rubbish left along foreshore Seafarers fight the plastic tide
MEMBERS of the Steering Fiji Women’s Seafarers Association began their plastic clean-up campaign last Saturday as part of a project regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
An executive director of the association, Ofa Qarase said as part of the project, they were also required to collate data on the type of plastics they collected.
The group cleaned up along the Suva foreshore on the weekend.
“With the rubbish that we pick we are going to collect data,” she said.
“While counting, we will separate the plastics we’ve found by identifying which manufacturing company it is from.
“So we will know who is the major company where the plastics are being manufactured from which are regularly dumped into the ocean and we will have to tabulate that.”
Ms Qarase said an association in Australia
had provided a guideline template to assist them with the collation of data on plastic waste.
“They have a guideline template and we will be able to see how much plastic is being produced by individual industries and manufacturers.”
She said since plastics were non-biodegradable, once it stayed in water for a long period of time it would then turn into micro plastics.
“Fish are feeding on these micro-plastics and human beings feed on fish.
“Some sicknesses are to be confirmed. What scientists are telling us is it affects the internal organs but the research has to confirm it.”
She added children needed to be taught at an early age about how plastics could harm the marine environment.
“We need to do this because if we don’t, once this generation is gone, the future generation will be suffering if we don’t do anything now.
“People need to learn to limit the use of single-use plastics and manufactur
ers should start finding alternatives to how they package their items.
“This should start from home; parents should talk to children about the seriousness of how plastics affect marine life when it is being dumped into the water.”
Rubbish collected during Saturday’s clean up included plastic bottles, food wrappers, snack wrappers and others.