Thursday, August 24, 2023

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Coral Sea Clean Up

Thousands of people across the country participate in annual Clean Up Australia Day events each year, and the local team at Coral Sea Marina Resort (CSMR) decided they were going to join in and make a difference in their own backyard.

In partnership with Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Rotary Club of Airlie Beach, Coral Sea Marina Resort put the call out to the Whitsunday community on Sunday, March 6, to come and clean up a slice of paradise.

“The first Sunday in March is generally a scorcher in the tropics – and that was especially true this year – so we were thrilled to have a dedicated group of volunteers brave the heat and help us do our part by joining in Coral Sea Marina Resort’s Clean Up Australia Day event,” Kate Purdie, CEO of Coral Sea Marina said.

Ms Purdie said that, even with the scrupulous cleaning and maintenance practices of the marina, it was surprising to see just how much rubbish we found.

“After dedicated campaigns to reduce the use of plastic straws and plastic bags it was great to see fewer of them this year, but they have been replaced with disposable masks and shopping receipts among other items – a compelling reminder that the real issue is single use anything, not just plastics,” Ms Purdie said.

Volunteers, young and old, came out in heatwave conditions to do their bit and collect litter on land and at sea.

Collection bags were provided by Tangaroa Blue as part of their ReefClean program, with all the litter collected being sorted, monitored, and weighed with the data then being inputted into the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database for further analysis.

In total, 131kg of litter was collected, with the main items being plastic food packaging and hard and soft plastic fragments.

Clean up efforts at the Coral Sea Marina Resort Clean Up Australia Day Event

CSMR and Rotary Airlie Beach volunteers

More exceptional clean up volunteers

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