Ōtautahi Christchurch Seaweek 2023 Clean-up, Estuary Edge | Sustainable Coastlines

Event impacts

On behalf of Sustainable Coastlines and Conservation Volunteers NZ, ngā mihi nui to everyone who attended the Estuary Edge Clean-up in Ōtautahi to celebrate Seaweek – Kuapapa Moana 2023!

In total, we picked up 138 kgs, around 600 litres of rubbish – an amazing effort! The turnout was a fabulous 70 volunteers, over double what we expected which is fantastic for the coastline.

There was a range of items found, from smart watches to car parts, a fake nose and lots of food wrappers! The results even made it into the news – a link to the article here.

The Litter Intelligence survey data can be found here: Litter Intelligence – Avon Heathcote Estuary – The South New Brighton Yachtclub – 11th March

Survey results of note:

– Litter density (Items per 1,000m2) was lower than the previous survey carried out in Dec ’22 with 452  vs. 532 items audited. However, a higher proportion of these items were made of plastic.

– Unidentifiable soft and hard plastic fragments had the highest counts, along with glass fragments. This speaks to litter breaking up into smaller pieces once it enters the environment!

Thanks to volunteers like you, surveys like these continue to add valuable data to the Litter Intelligence database, which help to inform big decisions about sustainability and the future of our coastlines.

Sustainable Coastlines are also super grateful to the support of our collaborators Conservations Volunteers and NZ Seaweek plus to our sponsors Phoenix drinks for providing some welcomed refreshments. #togetherisbetter