Our second Paddle Against Plastic on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast was set up to finish cleaning Stumers Creek after a team of 18 paddlers had managed to pull 107kg of debris out back in June. We had a focus of cleaning up the area closer to the mouth and with the obvious meeting point being at the Off the Leash Dog Beach at the end of Stumers Creek Road, that meant we had access to clean a beach at the same time.
The week leading up to the event was stunning with Queensland’s winter temps hitting 30 degrees on two consecutive days, however on the day of the paddle, whilst the sun was shining, we were greeted with a blustery wind with quite a chill to it. However it did not put off our dedicated volunteers as 10 paddlers and 16 beach cleaners got to work on ensuring the waters and beaches were clean.
The catch of the day was Yvonne’s shopping trolley, whilst other disturbing finds were that people were again picking up their dog poo in bags and then tossing it up amongst the sand dunes. I really don’t get this practice. The bags are provided free of charge so you can do the right thing. And whilst they are ‘biodegradable bags’ the act of throwing them into the sand dunes can prove lethal to other creatures who may eat them. Quite simply put, if you can’t be bothered taking your bags with you, then you don’t deserve to have a dog. What if your dog ate the bag?
The exciting thing about our clean up was seeing so many young children being a part of it. 8 children attended with their parents with Ollie and Jonty leading the way out on their stand up paddle boards. They loved the clean up and came back all excited to tell us what they had found. They have now discovered the joy of actually paddling for ‘treasure’.
Corky was a huge hit on the day as well. Corky is our Octopus made from corks found in the Sunshine Coast Waterways. He is a hit with the kids and with a Queensland Surfing junior surf comp on at the same beach that morning, he got plenty of attention. Once again he was photo bombing at the end of the day. Seems he likes to be in photos with trash and volunteers!!!
The Stats
- 112kg of debris removed
- 84 Plastic Bottles
- 61 Plastic Bags (Mainly dog poo bags)
- 29 Glass Bottles
- 42 Aluminium Cans
- 1 Shopping Trolley
- 902 items in total
A huge thank you to the team of volunteers that attended on the day and did an amazing job for our waterways.
Our next Paddle Against Plastic will likely be in late October/early November and will be further south, possibly Currimundi Lake or Lake Kawana, so make sure you like us on our Facebook Page as all events are advertised there.