Stopping marine litter at the start
Tangaroa Blue volunteers sort and count litter captured in stormwater traps. More than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are now estimated to be floating in our oceans according to the BBC. This figure could triple by 2040 and outweigh fish by 2050 if no action is taken.
Posing a huge danger to our marine life, litter also threatens coastal tourism, economic growth, food safety and human health.
Tangaroa Blue is here to make a change, with a suite of programs and initiatives dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris.
In November 2019, they set about installing 120 litter traps in stormwater drains across the 6 council areas surrounding Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay as part of the Let’s Strain the Drains project.
With around 95% of the litter in Port Phillip Bay originating from land, Tangaroa Blue CEO and founder Heidi Tait says our stormwater system is a significant transport pathway for litter making its way from our streets to our oceans.
“The stormwater drain is the last line of defence and it is the closest to the source, so installing traps here is the most effective way of stopping litter getting into the bay,”
“Most people think there was some kind of filtration system at the end of stormwater drains, but in reality, it’s just a funnel straight into the bay and people are very surprised to hear that.”
Supported by Sustainability Victoria, Let’s Strain the Drains prevented a total of 3,468kg of litter from entering Port Phillip Bay over a period of 6 months, with the traps collecting 75,931 macro-litter items and 677,114 micro-litter items.
These traps not only prevented litter from entering the bay. They also provided an invaluable opportunity to gather data on the types of litter being collected in stormwater drains.
With the help of 94 volunteers, the litter was meticulously sorted and counted according to Tangaroa Blue’s Australia Marine Debris Initiative Database methodology.
Plastic made up almost half of the material found in the traps, followed by foam (33%), paper and cardboard (11%), and metal (5%). The analysis also identified the most common litter items in each location. For example, in the Maribyrnong area, the Tangaroa Blue team was collecting large amounts of bubble tea packaging. In Merri-bek, the top item collected was cigarette butts.
Heidi says the data has helped to inform specific education and behaviour change programs for each council area to prevent future litter from ending up in the stormwater traps in the first place.
“In industrial areas like the City of Kingston, we continued to roll out Operation Clean Sweep which empowers plastic industry businesses to stop plastic resin pellets and recyclate from entering the waterways,” Heidi says.
“In the City of Wyndham, we implemented a cigarette butt litter project with council called Ditch the Flick, which involved installing new cigarette butt bins and clear directional signage at Werribee train station.”
With the comprehensive baseline data, Heidi also hopes to measure the impact of Victorian Government initiatives like the recent single-use plastics ban and the upcoming container deposit scheme.
The success of Let’s Strain the Drains has seen the initiative rolled out in other areas across Australia, including Warrnambool, New South Wales and Queensland.
The traps around Port Phillip Bay will continue to be monitored and serviced by councils to prevent more litter from ending up in our waterways.