Getting rid of 85 kilograms of rubbish from Port Kembla Beach was one of the many highlights of the 2017 Illawarra Clean Beach Festival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A touch over 400 community members dropped by the beach to support the November 12 event organised by the Surfrider Foundation.
For the second year running Wollongong City Council also supported the community event which brought together many local environmental not-for-profit community organisations to clean up Port Beach.
Our short term convenience will become long term inconvenience if we don't start to change our habits now. Our grandparents had it right, maybe we should go retro.
- Susie Crick
Even members of the Disabled Surfers Association dropped by for some fun activities in and out of the water.
Boy and girl teams from eight local Boardriders clubs also participated in an U14's Groms Surf Tag Team event.
Taj Simon, 13 from the Port Kembla Boardriders club did exceptionally well. A member of the Talented Sports Program at Illawarra Sports High School, Taj caught the barrel of the day.
The action out of the water was also appreciated, especially the sand sculptures of dolphins formed by artist Justine Crouchley-Crawford.
Wollongong City Council also had a 'larger than life' highly interactive display with a strong environmental message.
Surfrider Foundation chair Susie Crick said the display allowed the public to see the direct impact that single-use plastics, straws, helium balloons, cigarette butts and plastic bags were having on marine wildlife and our beaches.
She added Surfrider was partnering with the Plastic Free Wollongong campaign that has been rolled out in the region.
The Surfrider Foundation is introducing the 'OCEAN FRIENDLY' program to encourage and reward local businesses to become more environmentally sustainable.
‘’The message is simple. We want to have a cleaner city with less rubbish entering our waterways and beaches and we can achieve this by changing our behaviours and refusing unnecessary single-use plastics,’’ Ms Crick said.
‘’Businesses can make the choice to do the right thing for the environment and also leave a better future for our children.
‘’We really need to rethink our disposable plastic habits, because when we throw things away, they don't go away. Beach cleans can only do so much, and we really have to stop single-use plastics at the source.
‘’It's not that plastics are bad, it's our use of them for a few minutes that is the problem. Our short term convenience will become long term inconvenience if we don't start to change our habits now. Our grandparents had it right, maybe we should go retro.’’
Details at surfrider.org.au
