During the final week of term 1, some students from the Enviro Committee had the opportunity to volunteer and work with Sea Cleaners NZ, an organisation that works to clear rubbish off New Zealand’s coastlines and waterways. In 2002 alone, they collected over 15 million litres of rubbish, helping to protect the marine wildlife and raise awareness of pollution.
We spent the day cleaning the coast’s rubbish, and it was utterly shocking to see how much there was. Countless bottles, wrappers and fragments of plastic scattered everywhere – in bushes, underneath trees, along the beach. Witnessing all of this was a truly eye-opening experience, broadening our perspective on the damage that pollution creates, and how much we don’t even notice.
Not one to let chances go amiss, when we stopped at the various locations for the coastline cleanup, we also took the opportunity to rid and remove any moth plants (and pods) that we came across. And by chance, we came across many and were able to collect a large number of these moth pods to contribute to the Moth Plant Competition (click the following link for more detail Moth Plant (and pods) BE GONE! | Sancta Maria College) in addition to cleaning the rubbish from our waterways and coastline.
The Sea Cleaners crew was educational, sharing valuable knowledge about the impact of plastic on marine eco systems and environment, their passion motivated us. Although picking up all this rubbish was very demanding, it was worth it. At the end of the day, we all felt proud of what we had accomplished, feeling as though we had made a positive difference.
This experience opened our eyes to how important it is to care for our environment and encouraged us to keep fighting for sustainability in our school and community.
