Street2Bay – What’s with all this litter?

Research conducted by the Scouts Victoria Street2Bay’ initiative has found at least 95% of the plastics found in waterways comes from litter dropped in suburban streets, entering the Bay via stormwater drains, rivers, and creeks. The majority are microplastics, which create a high risk of consumption and other detrimental impacts for approximately 1,300 native species living in and around our waterways.

Scouts Victoria and Port Phillip Eco Centre collaborated on the robust Street2Bay project, to provide insights about where all the plastic in Port Phillip Bay is coming from. The Street2Bay project saw rigorous litter surveys done over a structured 2-year period. Street2Bay completed a whopping 546 audits across 127 sites. 

The majority of litter was found in the grass nature strip and mulch areas at sites. Removal of litter prior to mowing these areas would help to stop plastics being shredded into microplastics. Council is working with contractors to ensure this happens across all Council-controlled areas. We also encourage residents to scout for litter prior to mowing their own nature strips. Nearly 54,000 pieces of litter were collected and categorised, with 74% being plastics and microplastics, and 37% being cigarette butts (over 20,000 of them). The largest amounts of litter were found at retail sites, followed by public buildings (such as libraries and schools) and industrial sites. 

The project originated right here in Bayside in 2016, with Brighton Sea Scouts conducting regular litter surveys on microplastics at Holloway Bend beach. This inspired the Street2Bay project for other Scouts Victoria groups.

Participating scout groups aged between 11 and 26 years undertook street audits every three months. The program has engaged more than 500 scout members and leaders accumulating more than 3,300 hours of audit with a special Scouts badge was created for the Street2Bay project.

  All data collected has been categorised and entered in the Street2Bay database which will assist Bayside and other council areas to inform our litter prevention strategies. 

Representatives from Local councils, including Councilors and Mayors, have taken part in the Street2Bay audits. The project has also been presented to Federal, State and Local governments including representatives from EPA and Melbourne Water to drive much needed policy changes. The Street2Bay project was funded by the Victorian Government’s Port Phillip Bay Fund.

For more information on the Street2Bay project, visit Scouts Victoria, the Street2Bay Facebook page or contact Tracey Steeves at street2bay [at] scoutsvictoria.com.au.