Haven't signed up yet? There's still places for the clean up at Pulau Ubin.Behind this mammoth effort were months of planning and briefings for the various coastal locations.
And recces over the this weekend to Kranji, Kallang Basin, Pandan mangroves and more.Coastal Cleanup is not just about picking up litter. It is about collecting data about marine litter.
This is the data collected in 2007 by more than 2,000 volunteers on 9 tonnes of trash.
The source of the trash is also recorded.
Data from 2007 reveals 49% of the trash is a result of "Shoreline and Recreational Activities", 7% from "Ocean/Waterway Activities", 12% from "Smoking-Related Activities" with 28% categorised as "Debris of Local Concern".
For "Shoreline and Recreational Activities" the main types of debris were Bags (13%), Food Wrappers/Containers (10%), Straws, Stirrers (10%), Plastic Beverage Bottles under 2 litres (4%), Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons (3%), Caps, Lids (3%).
The Cleanup in Singapore is part of International Coastal Cleanup run by the Ocean Conservancy. It is the world’s largest volunteer event of its kind. Last year, 378,000 volunteers from 76 countries and 45 states cleared six million pounds of trash from oceans and waterways and recorded every piece of trash collected.
In Singapore between 2001 - 2005, volunteers removed 33 tonnes of marine trash from our beaches and mangroves and recorded all aspects of this trash.
Killer Litter! Discarded drift nets kill countless marine creatures constantly. Called ghost nets, these cause unnecessary painful deaths for our marine life.
Plastic litter is particularly insidious as these last for a long time, choking and killing marine life that accidentally eat them. Plastic litter breakdown into smaller and smaller pieces and end up in the food chain and thus eventually, in humans.Links to more information
- International Coastal Cleanup Singapore website
- The News from International Coastal Cleanup blog
- Ocean Conservancy page on International Coastal Cleanup
- Latest media reports on the threats of marine litter
- Is there any point to doing this only once a year? on the wild shores of singapore blog
No comments:
Post a Comment