pictured above – collecting microplastics and nurdles (raw plastic beads used for making plastic products)
On Sunday 3rd June TCG in conjunction with the Sea Shepherd Marine Debris Team did a beach clean up at Muttonbird Beach. At a glance you would think Muttonbird Beach is clean but looks can be deceiving. One of the most surprising and frightening aspects were the amount of microplastics collected. Approximately 1500 nurdles and 1000 other pieces of microplastics. These items easily end up in the food chain and are often mistaken for small invertebrates by marine fauna. The local fleshy footed shearwaters (muttonbirds) that have been found to contain nurdles.
Below is a list of what was collected on Sunday from a very small area of beach:
- 48 glass stubbies/premix
- 13 broken glass or cermics
- 1 article of clothing
- 15 aluminium cans
- 1 fishing tackle
- 8 paper/cardboard items
- 2 balloons/toys
- 1 thong/footwear
- 6 rubber remnants
- 2 pieces of wood
- 1500 nurdles
- 2 tea bags
- 17 cigarette butts
- 1 cigarette lighter
- 8 straws/cutlery/utensils
- 3 toothbrushes/brushes/hair ties
- 1 party toy
- 1 bleach/cleaner bottle
- 3 lids
- 3 personal care items
- 3 non-food plastic containers – oil/cleaner etc
- 5 plastic bags supermarket/poo bags etc
- 5 drink bottles
- 35 food wrapping
- 3 strapping scraps
- 3 bait/tackle bags
- 1 glow stick
- 1 fishing line
- 25 rope/net scrpas less than 1m
- 10m rope
- 1000 bits & pieces hard solid plastic
- 15 bits of plastic wrap
- 30 peices burnt plastic
- 14 foam cups/food trays
- 2 sanitary items tissues/nappies/cotton buds etc
