The 2011 WA Beach Clean Up is only days away and we have been inundated with volunteer registrations from Broome in the north, out to Christmas and Cocos Islands in the west, down to Augusta in the south west and Esperance in the south east and everywhere in-between! This year is looking to be a full state-wide beach clean up and we thank everyone who is planning to volunteer their time to get involved!
We’ve just got a couple of housekeeping points that we wanted to let you know before the event:
There is a 5-6m swell forecast to hit along WA’s south and western shores over the weekend – we urge all site coordinators to check their local forecasts and do a site assessment before you start your clean ups to ensure that volunteers will be safe from severe erosion, large waves, swell and any storm surge on the beach and rocks. Our first priority for this event is everyone’s safety and if you think that the conditions are not safe to do the clean up, please postpone your clean up till conditions improve. Also please make sure that the conditions are mentioned in your safety briefing to all volunteers – don’t turn your back on the ocean, supervise children and keep an eye on conditions throughout the event.
Those of you who have received permission to take vehicles onto the beach for the event – also be aware of the large forecasted swell.
By now you should have received your clean up packs, please have a look through before the event to ensure that you have all paperwork, bags, gloves, sharps containers etc before the weekend. If you are missing anything please email me on heidi@tangaroablue.org or call 0410166684 so we can get you anything that you need. Also have a look at our new and improved Data Sheet – if you become familiar with the categories before the event, it will make collecting information on what you find a lot easier on the day. We really urge all volunteers to fill this in and submit back to us – this is our evidence on the state of our oceans and is vital in getting changes made to help the stop of flow of rubbish into the ocean.
Most sites have organised their rubbish to be disposed of after the event, if you don’t know what to do with your bags of rubbish after the event please contact me and I’ll help coordinate a disposal plan.
We love to hear about your clean ups – in your clean up pack there is a blank CD, please check with volunteers and if everyone is happy to have their photo taken, please send in some photos of your clean up! One campaign we will be running over the year is for a national deposit scheme for plastic water and soft drink bottles and cans so please send us photos of any plastic bottles that you find as well!
And lastly we have a contest for the weirdest item found during the event – the winner gets a Tangaroa Blue stainless steel reusable water bottle! So send in your photos!
Thank you to everyone for your efforts and support – this event is getting bigger every year which means our oceans and beaches are getting cleaner and healthier every year! You are all making a difference! Have a great clean up event and weekend!
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