The 19th annual WA Beach Clean-Up has successfully removed over 3.5 tonnes of marine debris and litter from the Western Australia coastline.
Throughout mid-October, various sites registered by school groups, NRM regions, businesses, and individuals were targeted for the annual clean-up. Volunteers, motivated by a commitment to safeguard local beaches and waterways, collected debris and recorded their findings into the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) Database for analysis in the 2023 WA Report
This year, the WA community contributed a total of 3,081 volunteer hours across beaches and estuaries, resulting in the removal of over 124,000 debris items that might have entered the ocean or waterways.
In economic terms, the WA Beach Clean-up volunteers made a noteworthy contribution. With the national hourly rate of a volunteer set at $46.62, these volunteers contributed $143,636.22 in volunteer time to the Western Australia economy.
The success of the event was supported by sponsors such as the Southern Ports Authority and GHD, alongside Keep Australia Beautiful WA and Tallwood Custom Build Homes as event supporters. Their support has a huge positive impact on continually growing this event each year.
“We are looking forward to reaching such a massive milestone next year, celebrating 20 years of protecting our marine environment from marine debris and plastic pollution.” – Heidi Tait, Tangaroa Blue CEO.
