Australian grandmother spends most of her free time pick up trash on her Local beaches She says she is often amazed by what she finds, but never more so than when she discovers something new that is almost intact. plastic bottles Which may be more than 50 years old on the beach. The containers – which once held sugary drinks – have not been sold in decades.
Sydney environmental activist Susan Casement said she and her daughter-in-law Chrissie, who often helps with clean-ups, collected 30 to 40 plastic bottles from a stretch of coastline known as “the beach” near the city’s airport in Mascot.
“It’s crazy,” Casement told Yahoo News Australia. “I remember these places from when I was a kid. There’s so much rubbish there some days. It’s so frustrating.”
The old containers – which are sure to evoke childhood nostalgia for some older Australians – were shaped like grenades, kangaroos, submarines and Fred Flintstones. They used to have removable lids, but these have long since disappeared.
Some had measurements in fluid ounces — making them up to 54 years old, as Australia began to switch to the metric system between 1970 and 1988. Many had small holes, indicating where they had broken down into microplastic particles that birds, fish and turtles often mistake for food.
Plastic can last for centuries.
“The big problem with plastic is that we often use it for minutes or even seconds, but it can last for decades or centuries,” Seb Hamilton, plastics campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, told Yahoo News.
“Once it enters our environment, it doesn’t completely disappear. Over time, it has the potential to break down into smaller pieces and fragment into microplastics.”
Hamilton said Australia is the world’s second-largest consumer of plastics per capita and industry bodies need to provide better options.
“Right now, it’s really difficult for people to shop for fruits and vegetables without them coming in plastic packaging,” she added.
Dangerous wreckage found in sand on Sydney beaches
Casement also warned beachgoers to keep their “eyes open,” saying she had found plenty of Dangerous wreck Including hundreds of injection During her daily volunteer clean-ups over the past eight years on Sydney’s popular tourist beaches including Coogee Beach.
She said she recently found needles – and the black box containers used to safely dispose of them – dumped in the sand in No, it’s not a pyrrhic thing. In the eastern suburbs of the city.
“No beach is spared,” she said. “I have found hundreds of needles while collecting trash. The black box is usually given to people who use a lot of needles, and they are thrown away instead of being returned for proper disposal.”
Another problem, Casement said, is old fishing lines and hooks that can entangle or trap wildlife.
“A week ago in Kogi, I saw a seagull that had probably gone to eat the bait left on the hook, and now it was stuck in its beak,” she told Yahoo. “This poor guy wouldn’t let me get close enough to help him.”
Protecting our oceans is up to all of us, says the council.
Rubbish from the greater Sydney area has flowed into rivers and waterways and washed up on beaches along the coast, a Randwick City Council spokesperson told Yahoo News.
“It is up to all of us – no matter where we live – to do our part in protecting our oceans and beaches by disposing of our trash responsibly,” they said.
The council spokesman said the council mechanically sweeps every beach in Randwick with a tractor to remove more than 200 tonnes of excess rubbish and seaweed each year that washes into the water, while staff clean up spots to remove hazardous items such as syringes.
They said littering in public places is a crime, with rangers able to impose fines ranging from $160 to $5,000, while anyone finding syringes in a public place can call the Needle Cleaning Helpline on 1800 633 353.
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