Category: AMDI Network

Tangaroa Blue’s Global Plastics Treaty Ambassador Dr Randika Jayasinghe It’s been five days since I returned from Geneva, and only now can I find the words. Every morning, my walk to the UN Palais in Geneva took me past Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong’s sculpture “The Thinker’s Burden”. A reimagining of Rodin’s classic, but this thinker cradled a child while seated on Mother Earth, wrapped in DNA strands. Each day, I watched as more plastic waste was piled around it,

The Esky Library Trial: A Community-Led Source Reduction Success! Between February and April 2025, 23 households on Christmas Island came together to rethink how fresh food air freight is delivered, attempting to tackle the #1 item found in local beach clean-ups: polystyrene waste. Impacts of our circular solution: 35 reusable eskies circulated 6,187L of polystyrene waste (269 foam boxes) diverted from landfill 100% of participants want to keep using the service 50+ more Indian Ocean Territory households and three businesses are ready to

Reef Catchment Communities Unite to Remove 11 Tonnes of Marine Debris The 2024 ReefClean® Report is here, and it shines a spotlight on the incredible work of our ReefClean community, partners, and team over the past year. Together, we ran 222 clean-up events — including marine debris monitoring and disaster response activities — alongside 11 educational workshops and 11 new source reduction initiatives. Pictured: Volunteers sorting debris at a remote clean-up at Chilli Beach. Diving into the Data This year’s

Thousands of Volunteers, 7.2 Tonnes Removed – Read the 2024 WA Clean-up Report The 2024 Western Australian Beach Clean-up marked a significant milestone—celebrating 20 years of community action to protect our coastline. As Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s longest-running community-driven initiative, this year’s event saw record-breaking participation and incredible collective impact. More than 2,000 volunteers from 60 organisations, schools, and community groups dedicated 3,855 hours to remove over 7.2 tonnes of marine debris from nearly 158 km of WA’s coastline. READ THE

Fresh Food, Less Polystyrene Waste: The Esky Library Trial’s Second Rotation Success Last Friday (21st Feb 2025), we successfully completed the second rotation of the Esky Library Trial, continuing to test replacing single-use polystyrene packaging with reusable eskies in the Indian Ocean Territories (IOT). The Impact So Far • 28 reusable eskies were used in this freight cycle • Diverting approx. 1,288L of polystyrene waste from entering the island’s waste stream • This brings the total saved so far to 2,208L of polystyrene

AMDI Partner Highlight: Ekipa Tasi Mos Atauro in Timor-Leste Since 2016, the Ekipa Tasi Mos Atauro Marine Debris Program in Timor-Leste has contributed its excellent datasets to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) Database. With 208 clean-ups under their belt, this dedicated team has removed a staggering 142,246 pieces of marine debris weighing 2,620 kg! The biggest culprits? Hard plastic remnants and bottle caps/lids. The marine debris team has collected a massive total of 29,264 lids and bottle caps alone. Our Tangaroa