Our latest clean-up on Coconut Beach in the Daintree national park was a day in paradise. 14 volunteers (some of them left home at 5.30 am to make it to the event!) swarmed out on this this clear cool winter’s day to collect what they could on this tropical beach in Far North QLD.
The biggest reward for the lucky finder was an almost new fishing rod. Otherwise 21 bags and 178 kg were removed after we only cleaned this beach 6 months ago!
It was rewarding to see how keen the crew of a local resort was to learn the data entry to conduct regular clean-ups on their own stretch of beach in the future. But the euphoric vibe came with a twist: We found an unusual number of balloons and dug out a giant pile of plastic wrap, filling over 2 bags and weighing some 60+ kg alone! With so much plastic floating around you wonder what it does to the wildlife.
The day before a juvenile green turtle had been washed up dead a few kilometres north of Coconut Beach. It had no visible injuries, but was starving. Whilst we don’t know for sure, it is possible that this young turtle died from ingesting the balloons and plastic foil out there that hadn’t made it to a beach yet to be collected by volunteers.
A big thank you goes to all the volunteers this day and to Mason’s Cafe that provided us with a refreshing swim and a discounted lunch after the hard work!
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