The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation targeted World Oceans Day earlier this week (8 June) with a campaign to clean up one of the State’s beaches.
Volunteers from Keep Australia Beautiful Western Australia picked up litter at Mullaloo Beach, while also providing an audit to determine what type of waste was ending up there.
Minister for the Environment, Stephen Dawson said marine litter killed and injured marine life and could lead to great economic cost to communities worldwide.
“Wildlife can eat or become entangled in marine debris; it can smother seabeds and is increasingly believed to be a source of toxic substances in the marine environment,” Mr Dawson said.
“Debris on beaches such as broken glass can also injure beachgoers and floating debris can be a hazard to boats.”
He said the Mullaloo Beach clean-up audit information would go into the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database, which compiled data from around Australia to help track litter to its source and prevent it from entering the environment and harming marine life.
“Plastics in particular can break down into micro-plastics, which are being increasingly recognised as a health concern for both marine animals and humans,” Mr Dawson said.
“This clean-up will not only remove litter from a popular Perth beach; the litter will be audited, and that data will be used to increase our knowledge of the origins of beach waste,” he said.
