Makara Beach Cleanup with Sustainable Coastlines

Kia ora!

On Sunday the 16th of April, we will be holding our first beach clean-up of the year.

VUWTC partners with Sustainable Coastlines to help clear plastic and other debris from Opau Bay, near Makara. 

And then we dump it all on tables back at uni and sort it out, for science! 

Difficulty: ezpz but with a bit of a hilly walk to get there
Cost: petrol money for your driver 

Here's the game plan: 

1. We assemble at the gear shed at 10am 

We're working with the tides for this trip, and low tide is at 12:10pm. 

2. We drive, en masse, to Makara Beach

I do not have a car so if you do have a car plz come along and I will love you 5ever x

3. Walking time!

Here we trek over the hill the Opau Bay. This is an easy walk, with a short steep bit at the beggining, and then a meander downhill for the rest of the way. We pass old military bunkers, windmills, and some brilliant views of the ocean. If we get a clear day, the South Island will be visible which is always cool. 

4. We sample (pick up) the detritus (crap) 

At the beach we will meet someone from Sustainable Coastlines, set up a 100x20m area, and then collect all of the rubbish inside it. For this bit we will be given gloves and sacks. Hopefully we can get them to drive a ute in so we don't have to cart the rubbish back along the beach!

5. We load the sacks into the ute, and make our way back around the coast to the cars! 

We can choose to walk around the beach to get back to Makara if we don't want to climb back up the hill.

6. Sorting! 

The thing that sets this collection apart from regular crap collecting is that it has a scientific purpose. When we get back to the gear shed, we'll sort, count, and log all the rubish. This goes into an online database to help build a picture of plastic pollution and its impacts on NZ's environment. 

What to bring

• Lunch and snacks for yourself
• Something warm & a windproof layer, the coast is very exposed
• Sturdy shoes (we’ll be walking over lots of driftwood and logs to collect the rubbish). 

We’ll provide you all with gloves and funky pink fluro when we get to the beach. 

(Also the brave souls are welcome to bring togs along for a quick swim somewhere, it’ll probably be freezing but maybe it’ll boost immunity) 

For more information on the organisation that we're working with, look here: Sustainable Coastlines