Global Plastic Pollution Agreement: A historic moment

Did anyone else get a little emotional watching the video as the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) reached a resolution to create an intergovernmental committee to negotiate and finalise a global treaty on the plastics crisis by 2024? More than 100 countries attended the UNEA summit- either in person or virtually in Nairobi, Kenya.

The United Nations have described this landmark announcement as “the most significant green deal since the 2015 Paris climate agreement” and have also stated the need for the agreement to have “clear provisions that are legally binding”

Read more “Global Plastic Pollution Agreement: A historic moment”

Tackling Fishing Waste With New Rig Recycle Bins

The Rig Recycle concept was developed by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and is an initiative of ReefClean. It was developed to help overcome issues such as pollution from discarded fishing gear, while also reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.

In an Australian first, it is now possible to recycle your unwanted fishing tackle at all Queensland BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing stores through a new recycling pilot.

Tangaroa Blue Foundation in partnership with fishing conservation charity OzFish Unlimited  launched the program together with BCF who are opening their doors for recreational fishers to bring in their old, unwanted or recovered fishing tackle and dispose of it in purpose-built Rig Recycle bins.

Read more “Tackling Fishing Waste With New Rig Recycle Bins”

Rubber Crumb Loss from GBR Play Areas

Many play areas have soft fall surfaces made of recycled rubber tyres applied as small pieces of crumb (1-5 mm in size). The use of rubber crumb in playgrounds and synthetic sports fields has been around for over a decade, although there has been a recent increase in investment in this product to try and deal with the more than 48 million tyres reaching end of life every year in Australia.

Rubber crumb and the chemicals associated with these (e.g. metals, PAHs, tyre anti degradants), however, have been found in international studies to leach into waterways and cause harm to aquatic life. Limited information exists on the potential loss and impacts associated with local sites and with the Great Barrier Reef considered a sensitive ecosystem, a focus on this region was considered a priority.

As part of the ReefClean project, Tangaroa Blue Foundation and AUSMAP developed a source reduction plan to quantify the amount of rubber crumb escaping from playground surfaces, and work with councils to identify ways to reduce the loss of rubber crumb into the Great Barrier Reef.

The full report is available here.

Tangaroa Blue Foundation is recruiting for our Board!

Tangaroa Blue Foundation seeks to inspire, catalyse and empower action to remove and prevent waste from entering the marine environment. We’re looking for a new member to join our dynamic board. Skills and experience in the areas of IT, risk management and governance in the not-for-profit sector are particularly needed.

Successful applicants will add to the balance, skills and experience of the existing board members. The board currently consists of six directors who meets monthly via Zoom. The board provides strategic guidance and oversight of the management of the organisation and legal responsibilities.

This is a volunteer position for a three-year term and suits someone passionate about making a positive difference.  If you’d like to find out more please email board chair Sioux Campbell.

Tangaroa Blue Foundation Ltd (TBF) is registered as a large charity under the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission.

Nomination forms are available from board@tangaroablue.org and applications must be received by COB 8 October 2021.

WA Beach Clean-Up 2021 Launched!

Our annual west coast event is fast approaching and it’s shaping up to be another really successful campaign for Tangaroa Blue Foundation!! For those of you who missed the official WA Beach Clean-Up report for 2020, here is a snapshot of the key successes. We hope to increase our impact this year and keep building on these numbers. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this event so far and for your interest again this year.

Register your clean-up site here!

Check out the clean-up sites registered so far… can you fill in the gaps?

We have recently welcomed WA Regional Project Coordinator Casey Woodward to the team, who is based in the South West. Together with Dan Burns in Perth, they are working to increase the beaches and waterways covered and are both really looking forward to connecting to the communities that care for the wild shores of Western Australia over the 15th-18th October weekend.

Alongside our partner Keep Australia Beautiful WA, we are welcoming Custom builder Tallwood Constructions to our corporate donor base. Their generous contribution provides valuable funding to the WA Beach Clean-Up for 2021 and we are proud to be growing our capacity in Western Australia, with their help. We will share more about these partners throughout the campaign.

We are also getting together some incredible prizes to be offered up to volunteers across the state to thank you for your hard work and dedication to keeping our oceans and waterways debris free!

If anyone has any questions or requires further information regarding this event, please feel free to reach out to casey@tangaroablue.org.

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