Our Seas Our Future has collated the volume of litter found from 2012 to 2019 on St Kilda, Tomahawk and Smaills beaches and surrounding coastal areas.
Founder Noel Jhinku said the 34,550 litres of rubbish found during the 22 volunteer clean-ups would be only a "fraction" of what was out there.
"The data indicates there’s a consistent trend of rubbish in that area. It doesn’t seem to be improving at all."
There needed to be a "higher-level push" to break the trend.
"There will be agreement that any type of littering is unacceptable, whether it is illegal dumping, accidentally windblown from a lack of or overfilled bins, or deliberate acts of littering."
They found mainly fast food packaging, single-use plastics, bottles, cans, cigarette butts and dumping of household rubbish.
The group wanted the council to make changes to improve the situation.
These included additional bins along John Wilson Ocean Dr, allowing for separation of trash into recyclables such as glass, mixed recyclables and general litter.
It also wanted more regular emptying of bins, the placement of dedicated bottle recycling bins at Ocean Beach and other areas along the Dunedin coastline and litter signage along John Wilson Ocean Dr.
Cameras placed in dumping hot spots, for example Tomahawk Rd, could also act as a deterrent.
"We would like to see a more proactive approach by the relevant local authorities in addressing these ongoing litter issues."
The Dunedin City Council was unable to provide a response to the requests yesterday.
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Comments
Yes! Totally agree. Hoardes of people coming to beaches to enjoy, but are trashing the ocean at same time. Many times Ive seen people throw their fast food dinner wrappers out windows on to John Wilson drive ... Out to the dunes and ocean. A short walk in the dunes results in an armful of litter in five minutes.
Please DCC get proactive, put in multi recycling bins, cameras, staff monitoring (similar to dog patrol that gets a lot of resourcing and is high visibility) and signage. Hefty fines that are instant.
It would be excellent to see Anderson's Bay fast food chains eg McDonald's step up and do work on St Kilda because it's so frequently McDonald's wrappers, cups, straws in the dunes that I pick up..
Perhaps community-minded McDonald's and other community minded fast food businesses from Andy Bay could sponsor murals and signage up there motivating customers/people to protect the beautiful wildlife in our area by putting in their home bins -- **NOT** littering.
Be great if fast food operators stopped giving out plastic straws with drinks: so many end up in the St Kilda dunes and oceans. Why not paper straws? Biodegradable cups rather than plastacised non biodegradable?
I couldn't agree more Loulou. We're going to need a big change in peoples attitude for this to stop being a problem and that starts with the source....big food companies.