I had the pleasure of doing an early morning beach cleanup on Tuesday with Positive Change for Marine Life, a non-profit organization focusing it’s projects on cleaning up the beaches around Byron Bay.

This week was focused on the first 200 meters of Main Beach, from the small jetty at the parking lot to the far main entrance just south of the lawn. The litter we found (and what is normally found) ranges from plastics, cigarette butts, lighters, cans, bottles, rubber, even shoes and thongs with no mates. It’s astonishing how much rubbish can be found within a 50 meter area…and for such a stunning and beautiful place like Byron, one would think that you wouldn’t find these sorts of things on our lovely beaches. Not only is rubbish left there, but there is a great portion of marine debris that washes ashore, and it’s no suprise that marine life would mistake these items as food.

Pretty tragic, as I am sure many of us have seen countless photos of suffering animals caught in fishing lines, nets, plastic wrappings, etc.

What it really made me understand is the importance and MINDFULNESS about educating ourselves that litter on our beaches and in our oceans is a REAL ISSUE. It is not something that you just look at online and go, “Wow, that looks awful, somebody should do something about this…” We are those ’somebodies’, it’s so easy to simply pick up a few pieces of rubbish off the beach next time you go, it truly makes a world of difference.

Please have a look at this website, since this is a local project and organization, for those of you around town, are most welcome to join in as a volunteer each week to help make a difference. Every piece counts. You are saving lives and the ocean will thank you.

~Victoria xx