Heidi, Author at Tangaroa Blue Foundation

Global Plastic Pollution Agreement: A historic moment

Did anyone else get a little emotional watching the video as the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) reached a resolution to create an intergovernmental committee to negotiate and finalise a global treaty on the plastics crisis by 2024? More than 100 countries attended the UNEA summit- either in person or virtually in Nairobi, Kenya. The United Nations have described this landmark announcement as “the most significant green deal since the 2015 Paris climate agreement” and have also stated the need

5 September 2022

Tackling Fishing Waste With New Rig Recycle Bins

The Rig Recycle concept was developed by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and is an initiative of ReefClean. It was developed to help overcome issues such as pollution from discarded fishing gear, while also reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. In an Australian first, it is now possible to recycle your unwanted fishing tackle at all Queensland BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing stores through a new recycling pilot. Tangaroa Blue Foundation in partnership with fishing conservation charity OzFish Unlimited launched

5 September 2022

Extreme Marine Debris Mission in WA

During December 2021, Tangaroa Blue Foundation Project Coordinator Casey Woodward worked with an incredible team from The Movement South West to retrieve 353 kgs of trawling rope that had washed up and lodged itself in limestone rock on a remote part of beach, south of Injinup Point in Western Australia. It was a huge task to take on and this team did so with enthusiasm and grit. We are very grateful to each volunteer for their efforts. You can watch

5 September 2022

Tyre recycling program risks becoming a micro-pollution disaster

A shocking one billion waste tyres are generated worldwide each year. Working out what to do with them is one of the biggest waste challenges we face today. The Australian government is investing in solutions that shreds tyres into ‘rubber crumb’ to build playground surfaces and infill artificial turf. Unfortunately, this is not the solution it seems. A new study shows rubber crumb playgrounds release an estimated 1.2 million crumbs on average into the immediate environment, while other research suggests

5 September 2022

ReefClean Mural at Causeway Lake a success – Fishing Tackle Litter reduced by 80%

Capricornia Catchments partnered with Tangaroa Blue through the ReefClean Program along with Livingstone Shire Council to engage local artists Martin Schlick from Mash Designs and emerging artist Rebecca Johnston to create educational murals for the Causeway Lake Buildings. The murals aim at reducing fishing tackle pollution at Causeway Lake. With help from BirdLife Capricornia, these murals highlight the significant, rare, and sensitive wildlife that relies on the area and the impact litter and fishing tackle litter has on wildlife. In conjunction

5 September 2022

1669kgs of marine debris removed from Darwin Harbour

On a muggy day in October, 154 volunteers from 21 different organisations pitched in to collect 1669kgs of debris from coastal areas around Darwin Harbour, from Wagait to Casuarina Coastal Reserve. Some went on foot, some by boat, and some by jet ski! After a hot morning cleaning up our beaches and waterways, the debris was brought back to Fishermans Wharf to be weighed and sorted by the Larrakia Rangers and Tangaroa Blue. The majority of the items collected included

5 September 2022

Rubber Crumb Loss from GBR Play Areas

Many play areas have soft fall surfaces made of recycled rubber tyres applied as small pieces of crumb (1-5 mm in size). The use of rubber crumb in playgrounds and synthetic sports fields has been around for over a decade, although there has been a recent increase in investment in this product to try and deal with the more than 48 million tyres reaching end of life every year in Australia. Rubber crumb and the chemicals associated with these (e.g.

26 November 2021

Tangaroa Blue Foundation is recruiting for our Board!

Tangaroa Blue Foundation seeks to inspire, catalyse and empower action to remove and prevent waste from entering the marine environment. We’re looking for a new member to join our dynamic board. Skills and experience in the areas of IT, risk management and governance in the not-for-profit sector are particularly needed. Successful applicants will add to the balance, skills and experience of the existing board members. The board currently consists of six directors who meets monthly via Zoom. The board provides

10 September 2021

WA Beach Clean-Up 2021 Launched!

Our annual west coast event is fast approaching and it’s shaping up to be another really successful campaign for Tangaroa Blue Foundation!! For those of you who missed the official WA Beach Clean-Up report for 2020, here is a snapshot of the key successes. We hope to increase our impact this year and keep building on these numbers. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this event so far and for your interest again this year. Register your clean-up

30 August 2021

Melbourne strains the drains – again!

Tangaroa Blue Foundation has been successful in securing funding for Let’s Strain the Drains – Phase 2 through the Recycling Victoria Communities Fund, delivered by Sustainability Victoria on behalf of the Victorian Government. The project will be delivered by Tangaroa Blue Foundation in partnership with Cleanwater Group and with support from the Cities of Melbourne, Wyndham, Hobsons Bay, Moreland, Kingston, Maribyrnong & Greater Dandenong, the Vicinity Centres and University of New South Wales. Let’s Strain the Drain projects aim to

25 August 2021

Author: Heidi