Michael Fox and Malcolm Ross from the Stoke Tahunanui Rotary Club cleaning up the coastline around Monaco. Photo: Jessie Johnston.

Community groups clean up our beaches

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Hundreds of locals picked up a total of 3.93 tonnes of rubbish from Cable Bay to Tonga Marine Reserve, during the annual Big Beach Clean-up on Saturday.

The biggest community conservation project in the region is organised by the Department of Conservation in partnership with Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council and Nelmac.  It includes the clean-up of approximately 50 beaches within the Nelson and Tasman area.

Last year, over 350 volunteers collected 3.5 tonnes of rubbish from an astounding 293 kilometres of beach between Cable Bay and Abel Tasman. The amount of rubbish picked up has decreased since 2010, when 10.489 tonnes was collected.

Nelson and Tasman individuals, businesses, sports clubs and community groups were encouraged to get involved in the event, with each group responsible for organising their team’s rubbish collection.  The clean-up allows the community to come together and many groups involved enjoy the social aspect of the day.

Stoke Tahunanui Rotary Club has been involved in the Big Beach Clean Up for five years, looking after the Monaco area.

“We’ve always done this beach in that time, we just keep doing it because it’s one of our annual events we do as the Rotary Club in the community. It’s important to keep our beaches clean, it happens right across the area and we just want to do our bit to help keep the area clean,” says Michael Fox from Stoke Tahunanui Rotary Club.

Rubbish-free beaches enhance the lifestyle of people and help protect our wildlife. Rope, packing strap, fishing line and netting can tangle seabirds and sea life, making it difficult for them to feed. Plastic bags and wrapping can be ingested by birds and whales, mistaking them for food, and can cause them slow and painful deaths.