Celebrating World Rivers Day may not conjure up images of getting muddy and smelly wading through water to hunt down abandoned plastics, but that’s exactly what four volunteers from the Northern Resource Management North did.
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Rather than enjoying a leisurely boat ride or going fishing, Melissa Lewarn and Alison Hugo from NRM North were joined by volunteers Monique Case and Emma Williams to collect 160 plastic bottles, 140 bottle tops, 11 cigarette lighters, a wetsuit, a tyre, a pair of thongs and a boot for a total of seven bags of rubbish.
All of this from one small stretch of bank along the Tamar estuary.
Fellow volunteers worked along Swan Bay to collect their own pile of rubbish, prompting the message – take it home, don’t leave it behind.
“NRM North and the Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers Program has organised this day to clean up debris from two locations … as part of World Rivers Day celebrations,” Ms Lewarn said.
“We thought we’d get involved and get some volunteers along to clean up the Tamar.”
Ms Williams said another major issue was plastic straws being used, dropped, or forgotten about, and urged everyone to purchase a stainless steel straw to take in a handbag or backpack, or simply forgo the straw altogether.
“Every little bit helps, that’s the message,” she said.
“Every piece of plastic has the potential to cause harm to wildlife, also every piece has the potential to break down and work its way into the food chain.
“Sooner or later we’re going to be ingesting plastics in our own food chain, and the stats are already showing that.”
Ms Williams said the finer plastic particles could cause immense damage to wildlife and the environment, and it was important to stop any plastics from entering the riverways.
“Also removing it from the source and limiting our use of plastics is the solution,” she said.
She said taking active steps such as buying a reusable metal water bottle, using beeswax food wraps or glass bottles would simple steps in cutting back daily plastic use.
The waste collected by the volunteers was picked up by West Tamar Council to be removed and taken care of responsibly.
World Rivers Day celebrated the world’s waterways on September 24.