Department of Conservation community relations ranger Liz
Sherwood displays the sphygmomanometer found at Ocean View
yesterday in the annual coastal clean-up. Photo by Peter
McIntosh.
More than half of the more than two tonnes of rubbish
collected in the annual Dunedin coastal clean-up held yesterday
had to be dumped.
The total amount gathered was 2 tonnes and 5.9kg, an increase
of more than 600kg on last year.
Dunedin City Council waste strategy officer Catherine Broad
said much of the 1.347 tonnes put in the landfill included
tyres, plastic bags and fast-food packaging.
She said she would like to see teams from fast-food companies
help with the clean-up.
Almost a third of the material collected this year could be
recycled and this included 47kg of plastic bottles (five full
wheelie bins), 61kg of aluminium cans and tins, 100kg of
scrap metal and a "shocking" 404kg of glass.
Last year, the amount of recyclable material was much lower,
at 14.5% of the total 1.4 tonnes of waste gathered in the
clean-up, which covers the coast from Waikouaiti to Taieri
Mouth.
People were littering beaches with material which could harm
others or marine life.
It was hard to comprehend why people dumped scrap metal for
which they could receive money, she said.
Department of Conservation community relations ranger Liz
Sherwood said blood-pressure-measuring equipment took the
prize for the most unusual find.
She estimated about 300 people had taken part in the event,
organised by the Department of Conservation and the Dunedin
City Council for Seaweek.
Keith Malcolm and his family, including 12-year-old twins
David and Jack, again took the prize for the most rubbish
collected, gathering almost 211kg from around the mouth of
the Leith River.
Ms Sherwood said the family had won this section in each of
the four years the event had been held.
The area where they collected the rubbish was a bad one for
"illegal dumping".
Ms Sherwood praised the efforts of the volunteers, saying
there had been good coverage of the whole area.
It was clearly going to take a while for the message to get
through to all people that they should take any rubbish home
from the beach and recycle it, she said.
elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz
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