Clean sweep of Australia's iconic beach shines spotlight on ocean pollution-Xinhua

Clean sweep of Australia's iconic beach shines spotlight on ocean pollution

Source: Xinhua| 2023-03-18 18:57:00|Editor: huaxia

SYDNEY, March. 18 (Xinhua) -- Passionate ocean lovers gathered together at Australia's iconic Bondi Beach on Saturday to take part in a litter clean-up activity to arouse people's awareness of the harmful impact of waste on the sea.

The "Big Bondi Beach Clean", which covered approximately 50 hectares of the area, attracted around 60 volunteers who armed themselves with gloves, buckets, and litter pickers to collect rubbish from daily use and other debris that had washed up on the shore.

Dana Lopez, an educator from Take 3 for the Sea, a marine conservation organization that coordinated the activity, shared with Xinhua that plastic pollution remains a complex problem for the ocean.

"If you can imagine a microplastic that is the size of my fingernail, once it enters the ocean, it's going to be almost impossible to get it out, and obviously, once it enters the ocean, it impacts the animals," Lopez said.

The two-day activity, along with some other art and science initiatives around Bondi Beach, is part of the annual Ocean Lovers Festival, which aims to connect people and engage them in behaviors that positively impact the ocean through various entertainment ideas.

The cleanup encourages all the individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, schools and surf clubs to learn about the harmful impacts of litter on the environment and feel good about protecting the oceans.

"I come down to the beach here every day, and I don't want it to be a garbage dump," said Maggie, one of the volunteers, who held a bucket containing cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and small pieces of metal collected from the beach.

According to Lopez, the volunteers picked up 20.5 kg of rubbish in one hour, including some more complicated or rare items, such as vapes and batteries.

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