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Cleaning up the beaches with Sustainable Coastlines and Hyundai |
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Written by Ben Kennings
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Tuesday, 15 February 2011 |
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Piha rubbish - Image PhotoCPL
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Sustainable Coastlines has partnered up with the Hyundai Pro Longboard Tour for 2011 and they are helping clean up the coastline at beaches in and around where the five events of the tour are held. The partnership has been highly successful with marine debris being removed at all locations thanks to the Sustainable Coastlines crew, the team at Hyundai and numerous volunteers. We caught up with Sustainable Coastlines founder Sam Judd to have a chat about the project and other initiatives they have on the go.
1. Give us some background on Sustainable Coastlines
We started Sustainable Coastlines while on a surf trip in the Galapagos Islands in 2008. My friend James Bailey (a sheep farmer from Tirau) and I volunteered for the National Park, picking up rubbish with poor fishermen on a crusty old boat (which had a top speed of 2.5 knots) for 8 days.
We were shocked to find that uninhabited coastlines were literally choked with plastic rubbish. Over 8 days we removed 1.6 tonnes of trash with 5 people.
When we came back to San Cristobal Island where we were living (a world class surfing destination) the person in charge of the park there asked for our assistance with a similar project, to be done on one day. We coordinated a huge clean-up around the port (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) and removed over 7.5 tonnes in one morning with 300 volunteers including schools, NGOs, the Navy, The Police, The local council, tourists, tourism operators and 35 scuba divers.
The results made local people very happy (some were in tears), which felt good. Never before had all of these organisations worked together on the same project as there are many issues in the Galapagos which divide the community.
That is how we began.
2. How did the partnership with Hyundai come about?
Hyundai approached us hoping that we could have a presence at the Pro Longboard Tour, educate people about coastline protection and get out there on clean-ups during the tour events.
We thought well hey, here is a group of people who really love the coastline. We find that people all over Aotearoa already love the coastlines, they just need an excuse to do so while feeling part of something bigger. The partnership just seemed to make sense so big ups to Hyundai for making it happen.
3. What beaches are you working on?
We work mainly on educational projects, the aim of which is to facilitate more people looking after ALL of our coastlines.
We audit the rubbish after each event to create educational resources, so often we focus on beaches and coastlines that make an example to the community. For instance, we have run huge clean-ups on Rangitoto Island and the West Coast of Aotea/Great Barrier Island.
Results from these events have conclusively proven that trash escapes from Auckland City on a regular basis and affects all of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf.
Rubbish in the Hauraki is different than the East Cape, for example, or Stewart Island- which has exclusively rubbish which comes from International sources in the westerly flow which travels around the 'Roaring 40s' latitudes.
4. How have the events been going?
The events have been great. Piha was really a lot of fun. We removed over 850 litres of rubbish with the help of dedicated young kids, passionate surfers from the tour and Hyundai crew who came from the Auckland dealerships to help us pick up trash.
We have also spent a good part of the time showing results from previous clean-up events and explaining to the kids how important it is not to drop rubbish in the first place, so as to prevent it from reaching our coastlines or go out to sea.
5. What other projects are Sustainable Coastlines working on at present?
Summertime is super-busy for us, with coastal clean-ups. We have a huge one centered in Coromandel Town on the 1-3 April and another in mid-April in the North Shore.
In the winter, with our unpredictable weather, we shift the focus from coastal clean-ups to a roadshow around schools and riparian planting projects. All the water in the rivers runs to the sea obviously, so cleaning up our rivers- many of which are heavily affected by run-off and other pollution- is something we are also passionate about. Planting native trees literally sucks the nutrients (fertiliser and fecal matter) from the waterways and cleans it up which is better for everyone.
6. Where can people find further information about the beach clean ups?
If you want to lend a hand, have any questions or make a donation to our charitable cause, everything can be found on our website - www.sustainablecoastlines.org
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Sustainable Coastlines HQ - Image PhotoCPL
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Education is the key - Image PhotoCPL
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St Clair Beach rubbish - Image PhotoCPL
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