Here on Creek to Coast, we’re all about enjoying our waterways… whether it’s wetting a line on the weekend or heading out for a surf. We often only ever see those picture-perfect destinations, but in reality, our waterways are facing a real threat when it comes to marine pollution.
Thankfully, that’s where Bush to Coast Expeditions come in. While they mainly offer walking and kayaking tours through the Gold Coast, they also run monthly clean-ups.
Fabio is the co-owner of Bush to Coast Expeditions, alongside his mate, Jordi.
“The whole point of doing our clean-ups,” Fabio explained, “is we make an income from the environment; we like to take people out. We’ve started our business in this environment, we believe it’s also our job to take care of it.”
The pair have been encouraging others to head out and clean up for the last two years.
“We just try and get local people that care about the environment to come on down and to help us collect some rubbish,” Fabio said.
Sadly, wherever our rubbish starts, it usually ends up in our waterways. And when it ends up in our waterways, it can end up in a variety of places.
Once the group collects a significant amount of rubbish, they sort it out into categories; from glass bottles through to plastics and tin cans.
“This is the important part, because this is where we get to collect the data of how much of each specific item of rubbish we’re getting in our waterways,” Fabio explained. “And that allows us to track the way that plastic and waste items more through the ocean, and also where they end up.”
The details of each collected item are then entered into an Australian-wide database, created by Tangaroa Blue. To date, the database has recorded the removal of over 13 million items, from around 3,000 clean-up sites!
We can all do our bit to look after the waterways we so thoroughly enjoy — whether by recycling at home, reducing waste in our kitchens or joining a Bush to Coast clean-up!
