By Liam Baldwin Jankiewicz, Justin Atkinson, 10 November 2024
During the 2024/25 year, the VUWTC Biosecurity Service continued its support of Sustainable Coastline's Litter Intelligence programme. We oversaw quarterly beach cleanups at Opau Bay (near Mākara), helping to remove litter there. We also counted up and weighed the trash we found, to provide scientists and government with useful data on pollution flows at Mākara.
These efforts help to educate people about the problems of human waste, support sustainability efforts, and enable more effective pollution reduction campaigns against companies and government.
We made great day walks out of these cleanups, exploring the scenic and slightly isolated area of Mākara. It takes many puffs to reach the top of the cliffs, but the great views of the coast and the distant South Island are soo worth it! Historic WW2-era bunkers, a variety of farm animals, massive wind turbines, wild litter discoveries, and a lovely cafe only add to the super vibes.
The Biosecurity Service was led by VUWTC's Minister of Conservation, the Hon Liam Baldwin Jankiewicz. This effort was supported by the Minister for the Secretarial Service and Associate Minister of Conservation, the Rt Hon Justin Atkinson (having served as Acting President). Additionally, a massive thanks to all the participants who tirelessly helped us to make the Mākara Coast a cleaner place, your involvement was super inspiring :)
Here's to another year of VUWTC collaborating with Sustainable Coastlines and the Mākara community!
Some stats:
No of 2024/25 Opau Bay cleanups: 4 (Nov 24, Jan 25, Apr 25, Jul 25)
No of citizen scientists: 11 (Nov 24), 7 (Jan 25), 11 (Apr 25), 19 (Jul 25)
Area searched: 100m x 20m (all dates)
No of items found: 231 (Nov 24), 124 (Jan 25), 306 (Apr 25), 258 (Jul 25), 919 total
Litter weight: 9.373kg (Nov 24), 4.636kg (Jan 25), 33.214kg (Apr 25), 20.957kg (Jul 25), 68.18kg total
Plastic percentage of total litter: 91% (Nov 24), 82% (Jan 25), 72% (Apr 25), 86% (Jul 25)
Types of litter found: plastic (soft, hard, foamed), rubber, metal, wood, glass, fabric & textiles, cardboard
Best finds: Buoys from the Marlborough Sounds mussel farms, assorted bottles with leftover drink, shotgun shells, a person-sized plastic banana leaf, toothbrush, cricket ball, inflated life dingy, big water tank, rusted tyre, medical needle, sharp 15cm long carving knife
Nov 2024 data:
https://litterintelligence.org/data/survey?id=3319
Jan 2025 data:
https://litterintelligence.org/data/survey?id=3390
Apr 2025 data:
https://litterintelligence.org/data/survey?id=3534
Jul 2025 data:
https://litterintelligence.org/data/survey?id=3604
