By CAROLINE STRAINIG
TWO environmentalists sailed into Port Macquarie earlier this week and found the town’s main beach was a load of rubbish – literally.
Australian Tim Silverwood and Canadian adventurer Adrian Midwood stopped in on an east coast sailing tour from Brisbane to Sydney aimed at raising awareness of the impact of plastic pollution.
While only a mother and two children turned out to help them at a scheduled clean-up at Town Beach on Tuesday morning, the two and some campaign supporters still found plenty of rubbish during a half-hour stroll along the beach and adjacent grassed area.
This included 95 cigarette butts, straws, plastic cutlery, aluminium cans, plastic bags and a broken surfboard.
“I think if you are from Port Macquarie you would find this amount of rubbish quite surprising, although it is about on par with other areas we have visited,” Mr Silverwood said.
He and Mr Midwood are visiting 15 east coast locations between Brisbane and Sydney to try and inspire communities to take action on a local level to address plastic pollution and the nation’s growing waste crisis.
Called Talking Trash, the project is a joint initiative of the two environmentalists, who represent the not-for-profit organisation Take 3 and Ocean Ambassadors respectively.
Mr Silverwood said 85 per cent of Australians lived within 50km of the coast and our culture revolved around our love for the ocean. However, in every square kilometre of Australia’s fringing ocean there were more than 4000 pieces of plastic rubbish.
He said one of the easiest ways Port Macquarie residents could help was to join the Take 3 campaign, which entails picking up three pieces of rubbish when you go to the beach.
Mr Midwood said while the amount of rubbish being dumped in the ocean was of major concern, there were also some positive developments, including innovative Japanese technology which converted waste plastics into oil.
Other events in addition to the beach clean-up in Port Macquarie included a film screening and public meeting to discuss initiatives which could be put into place locally.
