Volunteers remove four tonnes of rubbish from Cabbage Tree Creek

About four tonnes of rubbish was removed from Shorncliffe’s Cabbage Tree Creek at the weekend.

Ocean Crusaders removed a huge pile of rubbish on day one of their clean up of Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe. Picture: Ocean Crusaders

ABOUT four tonnes of rubbish was removed from Shorncliffe’s Cabbage Tree Creek at the weekend.

Non-profit marine organisation Ocean Crusaders collected just over 2.5 tonnes on Friday and Saturday before being joined on Sunday by about 120 local residents who collected another 1.44 tonnes.

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Ocean Crusaders founder Ian Thomson said they removed all the rubbish identified during a scoping tour of the creek, including shopping trolleys, bicycles, an airconditioning unit, spray cans, rusted gas bottles, water tanks, tyres, a broken pontoon and lots of general plastic.

Volunteers joined non-profit organisation Ocean Crusaders to remove rubbish from Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe on Sunday, November 11. Picture: Ocean Crusaders

However what did surprise him was the number of glass bottles among the mangroves.

“There were thousands of them,” he said.

“You’d see a white bucket and go and get that and come out with three bags of glass bottles ... and we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s there.

“We could literally spend a month in among the mangroves pulling everything out.”

Mr Thomson said the community response to the Sunday’s Paddle Against Plastic day was incredible.

“It was an awesome effort. The community there (at Shorncliffe) is so passionate and committed.

“People were paddling out in among the mangroves. There were kids climbing in and coming out muddy.

Members of non-profit organisation Ocean Crusaders removed a lot of rubbish from Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe. Picture: Ocean Crusaders

“The community pulled out over 200 bags of rubbish.

“The previous record at a Paddle Against Plastic event was 930kg of rubbish removed from Moonee Ponds in Melbourne.

“The Shorncliffe event saw an extra half a tonne pulled out of the water.

“It’s a good and bad statistic. We’re proud of getting it out but it represented years and years of rubbish that had built up.

“It’s out and it shouldn’t go back in.”

Sandgate resident Andrew Hooper-Nguyen said he was overwhelmed by the amount of rubbish removed.

“It was a fabulous event, a true community event, and the result achieved was amazing although we really only scratched the surface,” Mr Hooper-Nguyen said.

Bicycles which had been dumped in Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe. Picture: Ocean Crusaders

“We essentially collected our own body weight in rubbish.

“I think the evidence of what we collected and people’s experiences will hopefully percolate through the community and people will think twice about where their waste can end up.”

Mr Hooper-Nguyen said he believed Brisbane City Council should implement a formal clean up program for the creek.

“The creek is susceptible because a lot of plastic washes in from the land but it also faces into the prevailing south-easterly winds so rubbish also flows in from the sea.”

There are at least 11 shopping trolleys and two bicycles dumped in Cabbage Tree Creek, Shorncliffe. Picture: Ocean Crusaders

Cr Jared Cassidy (Deagon) agreed council needed to take a more active role in illegal dumping.

“Council should be on the water being proactive rather than just reacting,” he said.

“Ian (Thomson) is going to provide data on the types of rubbish (removed from the creek) and where it came from and we can go to council and say here’s the problem and here are some solutions.

“We need community education, support from council for these groups, and enforcement from council to let people know that over your back fence isn’t a dumping ground.”

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Ocean Crusaders weighed and counted all the rubbish removed from the creek and the data will be send to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database.

Mr Thomson said the 28 cubic metres of rubbish overflowed a 12 metre skip bin, with extra rubbish that he was taking away.

The event was co-hosted with VMR Brisbane, Spinnaker Sound Marina and Redcliffe Environmental Forum.