Multiple beaches and waterways in Sydney have been swamped by tonnes of rubbish debris
A popular Sydney beach is one of several in the city to be swamped by tonnes of rubbish - including some seriously creepy items
Environment
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Multiple waterside Sydney suburbs have been inundated with mounds of rubbish and plastic waste following severe storms and strong winds that battered the city last week.
Horrifying images have been shared across social media of beaches and bays in the east and inner-south covered in tonnes of debris.
A number of areas across the Bayside Council have been impacted, including a beach on Kyeemagh Avenue in Mascot at a popular plane-spotting lookout.
Among the items are countless plastic bottles and containers, as well as milk crates, thongs, tennis balls and even a baby car seat.
At Lady Robinsons Beach in Monterey, locals found discarded injection needles and even a container of cremated ashes.
Local councillor Jerome Boutelet said the scenes were “truly shocking” and demanded urgent action from authorities.
“The rubbish at this spot is truly shocking,” Cr Boutelet said. “I will ask Bayside Council to urgently make representations to the State Government and Environment Protection Authority to get this cleaned up immediately.
“We should be looking to protect our area for the community. This level of damage to our environment is unacceptable. The State Government needs to step in and fix this.”
Pip Kiernan, chair of the iconic awareness group Clean Up Australia, said the confronting scenes served as a timely reminder of the consequences of littering and inappropriate rubbish disposal.
“Everything we drop on land ends up in a waterway eventually,” Ms Kiernan said.
“Whether it’s a river system or Sydney Harbour or the ocean, this waste damages our marine wildlife and the environment. We all have to take responsibility – each of us plays a part in caring for our environment.
“This a timely reminder to register for Clean Up Australia Day, held on the first Sunday in March each year. It’s easy to do and it makes a difference.”
Among the mounds of rubbish, social media users spotted an unusual chip packet with dated and old-fashioned branding from biscuit company Arnott’s.
The distinct design was traced by cyber sleuths to the early part of the 1990s.
“That just shows how plastic will outlive you and me,” Ms Kiernan said.
“Clean Up Australia Day has been going for 35 years and our volunteers regularly find relics like that. Plastic lasts a long time, and when it eventually breaks down, it becomes micro plastics, which are even worse for the environment.”
The images shocked locals, who took to the Bayside Community group on Facebook to share their upset and disgust.
“This is truly horrific and so impactful that it should make any decent person think twice about their consumption,” Linda Marea wrote.
“Environmental protection is the responsibility of local councils,” Marty Ryles said. “Bayside Council is clearly falling short.”
“Imagine how much worse it was before we had the bottles and cans 10c refund,” Raymond Johnson pointed out.
Karren Scully added: “I’ve seen this in third world countries - a little shocked this is Australia.”
New South Wales Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, the party’s spokesperson for healthy oceans, said it’s devastating to think what pollution like this is doing to marine life.
“This is an urgent reminder that governments and industry can be doing a lot more to reduce plastic pollution,” Ms Faehrmann said.
“We need a whole of government response – both to protect our coastlines in the short term, and to push for long-term change.”
Extreme weather events like that seen in Sydney last week are “amplifying an already dire environmental crisis”, she added.
“What we’re seeing on Sydney’s beaches is unacceptable and a wake-up call for industry and government to do more to reduce waste in our oceans.”
According to the CSIRO, about three-quarters of rubbish found along Australia’s coastline is plastic, and most of it originates here.
“The density of plastic ranges from a few thousand pieces of plastic per square kilometre to more than 40,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre,” the scientific research organisation said.
Debris is more heavily concentrated in waters near major urban centres.
Water flow from storms as well as strong winds are the major causes of rubbish pollution winding up in oceans and waterways.
Aside from being an eyesore and posing health risks to swimmers and fishermen, rubbish in waterways has a significant impact on marine wildlife, the CSIRO said.
“Around the world, nearly half of all seabird species are likely to ingest debris. Balloons are considered to be the biggest plastic killer of seabirds. Birds also eat everything from glow sticks, industrial plastic pellets, hard bits of plastic, foam, metal hooks and fishing line.”
For example, CSIRO researchers found that a staggering 43 per cent of short-tailed shearwaters have plastic in their guts.
And its research has allowed for a sobering forecast – 95 per cent of all seabird species are likely to ingest plastic by 2050.
Bayside Council was approached for comment.
Originally published as Multiple beaches and waterways in Sydney have been swamped by tonnes of rubbish debris
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