If all we do is clean up, it's all we'll ever do

Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s co-founder and managing director Heidi Taylor spent last week in Eurobodalla, talking to volunteers, students, community members and Council staff about reducing marine debris at its source.

Heidi’s visit was hosted by Council’s environment team, who along with volunteers from the Eurobodalla Marine Debris Working Group, have been working with Tangaroa Blue for the past two years, cleaning beaches, logging data and now using that data to design and implement marine debris source reduction plans.

“If all we do is clean up marine debris, that’s all we’ll do,” is Heidi’s message. Tangaroa Blue’s aim is to collect data from all the groups doing clean ups around the country. “By looking at what the rubbish is and logging it into the database, that information can be used to find out where the rubbish is coming from. We can then work with relevant partners and stakeholders to prevent the debris from entering the marine environment in the first place,” said Bernadette Davis, Council’s Environment Education Officer.

While she was here, Heidi helped train new volunteers on a clean up at Wagonga Inlet, presented a seminar to more than 60 community members and Council staff, and with Bernadette, she also talked to students at Broulee and Sunshine Bay Public Schools, who are leaders in using the national marine debris database.