To mark Earth Day 2023, Chemistry Australia, Dow, and NGO partner Tangaroa Blue hosted a clean-up activity to keep our environment clean and prevent plastic waste from getting into waterways and oceans.
The #PullingOurWeight event was held on Friday 21 April at G J Hosken Reserve, Altona North.
More than 96 people from 20 companies representing the Australian chemistry industry and supply chain dedicated their time to the event:
BASF, Covestro, Dow, ERM, FBT, Geosyntec, Hobsons Bay City Council, Jacobs, Loyal Expanz, Mainfreight, Pact Group, Qenos, Schutz Australia, Scott Chem, Senversa, Scott Chem, Tangaroa Blue, TetraTech (Coffey), Tri-Tech Chemical and Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers.
Over the course of 2 hours, teams collected almost 500 kgs of waste, equating to 5.36kg per person. Tangaroa Blue weighed and separated the collected waste and logged data on the different types of waste on their Australian Marine Debris Initiative database, which they use to address the flow of litter at the source.
A large component of the waste collected was industrial, not unexpected for the area, being home to so many commercial and manufacturing sites.
104 kgs of the waste collected was made up of 53 large items. However, plastic film remnants from commercial and consumer packaging like plastic bags and food wrap was the most prevalent waste item collected. Its light weight helps it to travel easily through the environment.
A $20 note was also found during the clean-up, which was donated to Tangaroa Blue.
Hobson’s Bay City Council organized council waste trucks to collect all the event waste as well as illegally dumped hard waste identified around the area that was -unsafe or too heavy for us to retrieve.
This is a small part of a bigger commitment to raise awareness about responsible waste management and engagement of everybody to address plastic pollution, and to inspire year-long action to live more sustainably.
Thank-you to Dow’s organizing committee and Tangaroa Blue for their work to organise the Industry Clean Up Day and thank-you to everyone who participated in the event.