On a moody-sky day in the first week of the school holidays, a group of Kāpiti College students, staff and community members helped clean up Raumati Beach. While the beach looked pretty clean at first glance, it was amazing to collect one large and three smaller bags of litter in an hour.
The group split up to head north, south, up the Wharemauku Stream and throughout the coastal side of the Waterfront carpark. Year 10 students, Molly O’Brien, Imelda Milestone and Willow Dunne went north. Imelda reported, “We picked up a variety of types of rubbish, mostly glass bottles, fabric and food wrappers. The rubbish was mainly scattered around everywhere. What we found most surprising was the amount of clothing left on the beach.” Rest assured, this was not the apparel of ocean bathers that morning.
Small, often colourful pieces of plastic were another common item, which the team became obsessively good at spotting during the hour. “It’s heartbreaking to think these tiny plastic items may end up in the gullet of marine mammals, estuarine or seabird chicks,” says Social science teacher and co-leader of the Eco Action Group, Nicola Easthope.
“New Zealand is known as the ‘seabird capital of the world’, and according to Tatauranga Aotearoa/Stats NZ and organisations like Greenpeace and WWF, 90 percent of seabird species and 82 percent of shorebird species are at risk of or threatened with extinction. Many of these birds are endemic – they’re found only in the oceans of Aotearoa.”
Many community members regularly clean up our local beaches. Ashley Collins from Keep Kāpiti Beautiful got a tip off from KCDC that this Raumati beach clean up was happening, so joined in towards the end with generous offers of support. He was part of a rōpū heading to Kāpiti Island the next day for a coastal clean up. In future, the Kāpiti College team are keen to work together for regular beach cleans.
At the end of the morning, dedicated environmentalist and teacher, Valerie Andrews, sorted all the waste. Salvageable plastic and glass bottles were headed for a rinse and recycle, with the clothing to be machine washed and donated to a second hand shop. “Two of the three items of clothing were suitable for the thrift shop after being washed thoroughly. Even the plastic gloves and rubbish bags have been washed and saved for the next beach cleanup”, Valerie said. This level of care is inspiring. Imelda shared, “I care about this because it’s important to keep our beach clean and give back to our environment. To everyone out there enjoying the beach, please clean up after yourself.”
Ngā mihinui to KCDC for providing bags and gloves at short notice.