During October the 7th annual WA Beach Clean Up was held and this year a record number of West Australian volunteers helped to give their favourite beach a spring clean!
We are currently putting the final touches on our WA Annual Report and this will be available to download at www.tangaroablue.org early in the new year, but here is a summary of what was collected during this year’s event.
A total of 107 WA Beaches were cleaned up, covering a total of 195.65km of coastline; 75,252 items were removed that filled 733 bags and weighed 8,199kg!
Top 10 Items Collected
| Item | Number |
| Plastic bits and pieces | 20,219 |
| Plastic film remnants | 5,437 |
| Rope and net scraps less than 1 metre in length | 4,930 |
| Lids and bottletops | 4,106 |
| Fishing line in metres | 3,434 |
| Cigarette butts | 2,901 |
| Broken glass | 2,868 |
| Plastic drink bottles | 2,643 |
| Foam packaging | 2,535 |
| Rope in metres | 2,482 |
Litter & Plastic
The Litter Index gives an indiction of how much debris at each beach is washed in from the ocean and how much is left on the beach by visitors.
| Region Name | Total | Litter & Local Index | Non Local Index | Plastic % |
| South Coast | 1,262 | 54% | 46% | 81% |
| Western South Coast | 6,150 | 21% | 79% | 85% |
| Capes Coast | 29,459 | 15% | 85% | 89% |
| Geographe Bay | 6,728 | 63% | 37% | 69% |
| West Coast | 18,754 | 48% | 52% | 75% |
| Mid West Coast | 1,815 | 27% | 73% | 86% |
| North West Coast | 3,948 | 61% | 39% | 53% |
| Kimberley Coast | 876 | 89% | 11% | 61% |
| Cocos Keeling Island | 4,632 | 10% | 90% | 74% |
| Christmas Island | 1,628 | 40% | 60% | 79% |
| Clean Up Totals/Averages | 75,252 | 43% | 57% | 75% |
We would like to thank every volunteer who was involved in making this year’s WA Beach Clean Up the most successful yet! Also a big thank you to all the local government agencies that assisted, industry groups, schools and community groups, you are making a huge difference in the health of our local marine environment.
We would also like to thank Coastwest for their assistance in funding the event, and Keep Australia Beautiful Council WA for their support!
The 2012 WA Beach Clean Up will be held over the weekend of October 13th & 14th, so mark it in your diary and to register email heidi@tangaroablue.org – See you on the beach!
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