Bernadette Davis, Sam Ricza and Anita Doughty joined 10 other enthusiastic ocean-loving volunteers to clean up three beaches on the southern side of Orpheus Island.

The clean-up was organised by the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, which houses the Australian Marine Debris Database used by local volunteers who regularly collect marine debris from Eurobodalla beaches and rivers.

The clean-up spanned three days and involved hiking to each location.

On day one some 60kg of debris was found at Fig Tree Bay, which showed a big drop in the amount collected from Tangaroa’s last clean up six months ago.

On day two the 145kg of debris found at Big Rock Bay turned out to be full of household items and bottle tops.

The third spot – the south-east facing beach Horseshoe Bay – is known as one of the worst for marine debris.   

“Plastic and foam had been washed onto the shoreline then pushed up above high tide into the vegetation,” said Ms Davis, who is also Eurobodalla Council’s environmental education officer 

“Plastic crates, drums, buckets and bottles riddled the rocky shore with rubber thongs, ropes and tyres.

“We even found an abandoned tinny and an outboard motor among the items that were collected.

“In all a huge haul of 817.5kg of debris was collected from Horseshoe Bay,” Ms Davis said.

She said all the debris which was collected was then counted and entered onto the Australian Marine Debris Database.

“The majority will be diverted from landfill,’’ she said. “The hard plastics and bottles are recycled and a large amount is taken by artists who use a variety of items to highlight the issue of marine debris.”

If you are interested in volunteering with the Eurobodalla Marine Debris Working Group locally email Ms Davis at bernadette.davis@esc.nsw.gov.au. 

For more information about the Tangaroa Blue clean-ups visit www.tangaroablue.org