Rainbow Beach Primary School students participated in a marine debris presentation and a beach clean up along Rainbow Beach during May 2009. 55 students from grades Prep, 1, 4 and 5, parents and teachers collected an amazing 1140 items of rubbish from 200m of beach and the grassy park area above the beach, weighing 37kg in just 2 hours.
The most common items collected were:
- 308 cigarette butts
- 106 pieces of polystyrene foam
- 72 glass drink bottles
- 94 food wrappers
- 94 pieces of plastic
- 87 lids & bottle-tops
- 56 pieces of broken glass
- 48 aluminium cans
- 36 plastic drink bottles
- 15 plastic bags
The types of debris found along this well-used section of beach shows that debris is predominately being left by beach users with high numbers of drink and food related items. We do recommend that bins are provided by the local council in this area to help mitigate the amount of rubbish being left on this important and beautiful stretch of coastline.
Congratulations to all the students, staff and parents involved in the three day project! Data collected by the students will be added to the Australian Marine Debris Database providing a more detailed picture of the state of our oceans and coastline.
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