On the 11th of June a group of students from the Rosellas accompanied by Mrs Ashby, Mrs Enfield and Mrs Emma Patyus from the Eurobodalla Shire Council headed out to North Moruya in order to conduct a micro plastic and beach clean-up. Thanks to the Coastwatchers Environment Fund earlier this year, donating money to enable the Rosella group at Carroll College to purchase a micro-plastic kit and 2 extra sieves, we began by logging details on the area including tides, location, vegetation and human impact. We then split into groups to collect micro plastics in the sand at North Head Beach. The information we collected is for Ausmap. Ausmap is a company designed to document and analyse micro plastic pollution in Australian aquatic environments. The Total Environment Centre (TEC) and Macquarie University are the project leaders, working with a consortium of research, environment, education, government and sustainable business organisations. This meant that the data we obtained needed be collected following scientific processes - we used three testing kits to test three random spots along a 30-metre stretch of the Moruya River. We gathered the micro particles in the sieves and took them back to school for recording. We ended up sending off 7 specimens of what appeared to be micro plastics. To complete the excursion we walked along the beach collecting the larger rubbish and debris. For a relatively clean beach, the amount of rubbish found was truly quite surprising. We found many bottles, deteriorating plastic bags, a large plastic tub and even an ironing board. Once counted we realised we had over 300 particles. Overall, the day was very enjoyable and quite concerning on the amount of debris that can be found on our beautiful beaches. Thank you to Emma for assisting us in our research and collection. Thank you to Mr Foster for driving the bus to our location and back.

Written by Damia O’Loughlin and Mrs Ashby