Last Thursday the team cracked off at dawn to get down to bowling harbour for our sponsored beach clean. An early start was necessary to get there for low tide as we wanted to pick up as much marine litter as possible! As we got there we met up with some volunteers who came to join our beach clean and then set up our collection point. We split the beach up and then worked together to clean each section as best we could. We started as close to the water as we could as the tide was coming in fast.
The majority of litter next to the water consisted of glass bottles and fragments – bowling harbour is a popular place for people to come and drink. As we moved further up the beach the number of plastic items increased exponentially. We were all shocked by the sheer quantities of it – especially the small plastic tubes from cotton buds of which we found over 1000. Many people do not understand that flushing your cotton buds or other sanitary items down the toilet leads to them ending up on beaches. As the day went on more people from the local community came to join in our clean which was very helpful!
After we collected a mountain of litter we embarked on our next task – sorting it. This took longer than expected partially due to the magnitude of small bits of polystyrene and plastic we picked up. After sorting and totalling each category of litter we managed to compile this list which we sent off to the marine conservation society:
Industrial Plastic : 45 Bottles - Drink : 188 Bottle Caps : 252 Cigarette Lighters: 23 Tampons/Applicators: 137 Plastic/Polystyrene - 2.5-50cm : 629 Plastic/Polystyrene - <2.5cm : 153 Plastic/Polystyrene - >50cm : 13 Crisp Packets : 140 Glass Fragments : 516 Straws : 41 Pacifiers: 4 Q-tips : 1,078
The data we sent off to the marine conservation society as part of their beach cleaning survey programme supports their campaigns to reduce plastic waste and pollution on beaches all around Britain. If you want to read more about them or get involved in a beach clean they have an excellent service for advertising beach cleans in your local area and where / when to join them! Check out their website at https://www.mcsuk.org/ .
When rubbish was sorted and counted, we left it at our arranged collection point for the government to pick up headed back home after thanking the volunteers and members of the local community who joined us.
The Thailand team would like to thank everyone who supported and sponsored us for this beach clean and donors so far!
If you would still like to donate, our group fundraising page can be found at - https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/uofgthailandexp
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