Kids get busy on clean up

Heidi

Wonga Beach State School students, parents and friends joined with Tangaroa mainstays Heidi and Matt for a clean-up of the beach recently. In about two hours the students collected 33 bags of rubbish- weighing a total of 136kgs from two kilometres of what appeared to be a very clean beach.

Even though the beach itself appeared clean, the high tides and strong south easterly winds had deposited large amounts of litter above the high tide mark in the vegetation and mixed in with the natural flotsam and jetsam that wash out of the Daintree River. Read more “Kids get busy on clean up”

Rainbow out of Wonga Beach Rubbish!

Heidi

The year 4/5 class went down to Wonga Beach and conducted a beach clean-up with the aid of a group of enthusiastic parents and Zoey from Tangaroa Blue. We collected almost 1000 pieces of rubbish from the beach between Old Wonga and Pinnacle Village. Almost half the rubbish consisted of pieces of broken plastic that had washed up. We even found a safety helmet!

Back at the carpark we loaded all the rubbish into the ute and took it back to school to see what we could create with the flotsam and jetsam. Jayne volunteered her time and glue to work with the kids to create a wonderful Rubbish Rainbow and a yet to be named bird that are now on display in the foyer of the school. Come and check out what magnificent art can be created from rubbish.

While we were creating art we also graphed the rubbish data that we recorded while at the beach to show just what types of materials have been washing up.

As a thank you to Tangaroa Blue, we collected 5 cent pieces that were place on pictures of a dugong and turtle at lunch time. We covered the drawings many times over and raised $137.40 which is 2748 coins.

We had a fantastic time and learned a great deal from these activities, so a big thanks to everyone who helped out. Check out our efforts in the school foyer, the Gazette and on the Tangaroa Blue website where Wonga Beach State School has a page.

Thank you to Johnson Ohana Chartiable Foundation for funding that enables Tangaroa Blue Foundation to work with students around the country on reducing plastic in our oceans.

Back on the Beach with Wonga Students!

Heidi

Another fantastic clean up was run with the Wonga Beach State School on Tuesday 21st of October. Teachers, parents and lots of excited students spent the morning cleaning the beach just across the road from the school, an important area to all those involved.

After an hour of collecting marine debris and entering information into data sheets as they went, the group concluded the clean up with a total of 36.2 kgs of rubbish removed from their local beach!

Chairs, flippers, thongs and even a helmet were some of the most interesting things found, and a lot of the debris will be getting used in the students recycling art class they will be having as a follow up to this event.

Thank you to all those that were involved, it was an extremely fun morning and we look forward to working with Wonga Beach State School and their students again in the future!