ECP Compostables and SeaCleaners
It’s scary to think there are about 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris floating around in our oceans today. A lot of this plastic is discarded fishing waste. But as most of us have witnessed on any beach walk, you inevitably come across consumer plastics which have found their way to the beach or shore via the sea, stormwater or by people littering.
Sea Cleaners have been working hard (since 2002) to clean up New Zealand’s coastline and protect our marine life.
They partner with charities, community groups, corporates, iwi and schools to coordinate more than 160,000 volunteer hours of beach and coastal clean ups.
So far, the Sea Cleaners Trust team has removed over 11.8 million litres of waste (and counting)!
The vision of Sea Cleaners is clear. To preserve New Zealand’s Coastline for the benefit of marine life and for the enjoyment of all users. Through sponsorship, they can educate and coordinate volunteers to remove rubbish from our marine environment and educate people to dispose of their rubbish in eco-friendly ways.
As funding permits, they plan to grow the team; more vessels, crews and educators will be deployed, one harbour or stretch of coastline at a time - focusing initially on those adjacent to major population centres.
ECP has been providing Sea Cleaners with compostable bags to collect their waste. We caught up with Hayden from Sea Cleaners and asked how our partnership has helped their cause.
What's the most common item of rubbish you find?
“Single use plastics bottles, chips packets etc”.
In your opinion, what's the biggest difference people can make to reduce what gets into our water system and oceans?
“Reduce their consumption of plastic packaging & securing the waste they do discard”.
How do you use ECP's compostable products?
“For collecting the marine litter on our shorelines”
What made you choose a compostable rubbish bag option?
“We are totally focused on having a smaller environmental footprint year on year, whilst removing more marine waste so swapping to ECP bags was a step in the right direction for us”.
What is the best way to get involved or help Sea Cleaners?
“Minimising your plastic packaging consumption, picking up any rubbish you come across on your daily walk, at the beach, outside your property. Volunteer your time to spend a day with our crews or donating through our givealittle page”.
You can support Sea Cleaners through a Givealittle page here: https://givealittle.co.nz/org/seacleaners
For more info on Sea Cleaner, check out their website: https://seacleaners.com
