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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-05/beachcombers-notice-increase-in-plastic-waste-from-ships/102557904>
'In the early morning on the Victorian coast, beach cleaners scavenge for chips
of colour dotted along the sand.
Finding marine debris on Australian beaches is an all-too-common sight.
But for Phil Benbow and other members of Beach Patrol, fighting international
ocean dumping is like swimming against the tide.
This week the group discovered dozens of unused, internationally made COVID-19
Rapid Antigen Tests washed up on Gorman's Road Beach, west of Warrnambool.
Mr Benbow said, while the discovery of the nearly 80 kits was new, plastic
debris was on the rise.
"When we got to the beach … within 50 metres we saw this white little plastic
container," Mr Benbow said.
"We kept walking and before we knew it, more kept coming, and more kept coming.
After about an hour and a half, we ended up with 70 of them."
Mr Benbow is a retiree who regularly hits the shore near Warrnambool to clean
up.
He said it had been "frustrating and disappointing" after a hard morning's
work, only to return the following day to more mess.
"It's never-ending. On [that day] between the two of us, we would've had two
kilos of plastic rubbish, including the kits … It takes a lot to add up to one
or two kilos," he said.
"You can guarantee tomorrow there will be a fresh wave of plastic rubbish."'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
