Sign up to a monthly beach clear up or litter pick

Why this pledge is so important

You only have to go for a short walk along the coast, pretty much anywhere in the world before you’ll come across washed up plastic waste. Two-thirds of this waste is coming from washed down rivers and drains from cities, or landfill sites and items being flushed down the loo. The rest is lost at sea from containers going overboard or lost fishing equipment.

Wildlife 

• Plastic waste can be deadly for sea wildlife as they can easily mistake it for food or become entangled. 
• Recent studies have revealed marine plastic pollution in 100% of marine turtles, 59% of whales, 36% of seals and 40% of seabird species examined. 
• 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million seabirds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. 

Microplastics 

• There are 51 trillion microscopic pieces of plastic weighing 269,000 tonnes, about 500 times the number of stars in our galaxy. 
• A plastic bottle can take 450 years to break down in the marine environment, but even when it does it still exists in microscopic pieces. 
• Every piece of plastic ever created still exists in some shape or form. Scary.

What you can do 

• Sea Shepherd Australia works with local communities to lead beach cleans across Australia to protect marine habitats - find one near you. 
• Organise your own beach clean or litter pick within your community!