By Margaret Maccoll
By foot, by boat and even scuba diving, volunteers ventured into the rivers and lakes and roamed the land and islands to collect rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day last Sunday.
Artist Maureen (Mo) Riggs headed to the mouth of the Noosa River while the tide was high about 6am Sunday morning with her scuba gear and collected fishing tackle, plastic waste and even a mobile phone below the surface.
Mo said she would use the material collected in an art installation she planned to create for the Floating Land exhibition in October.
NICA volunteer Peter Hunnam was thrilled to have the biggest turnout ever at the Tewantin boat ramp clean up site with representatives from Tewantin State School, Ozfish, Unitywater and Tangaroa Blue Foundation, an Australia-wide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris.
The team separated the rubbish and Peter collated the haul to add to ongoing data which he will share with students once completed.
Peter said finding rubbish at different locations provided a connection for students to understand how the rubbish arrived there.
Rubbish found next to the boat ramp came from someone in a boat chucking it out and some from the stormwater drain washed there from neighbouring streets.
It shows where we have to do some things better, Peter said.
Tewantin State School deputy principal Rick Cass said it was the fourth year of participation for school students with their biggest turnout of about 40 students and their parents.
Mr Cass said since 2017 the school had become very involved in environmental education and practical programs including the annual clean up.
Through their cash for cans program the students raised $13,000 which they spent on sporting and video equipment. They have made portable gardens for classrooms out of recycled material. They replaced plastic bags with bags they made out of old tee-shirts and have transformed a dead space in the school with a permaculture and native bee centre.
And over the years they have been recognised for the achievements, having won a number of awards in the Sunshine Coast Council’s Kids in Action environmental program, Mr Cass said.
