Earlier this week, some of the TRACE Sydney team took the day off from cleaning up contaminated sites to help clean-up Sydney Harbour.
The clean-up paddle, run by Sydney by Kayak, took the team around Lavender Bay for the morning collecting rubbish from the water while taking in the sights of our beautiful harbour. The Sydney by Kayak team shared that while Sydney Harbour is indeed one of the most beautiful harbours, it is also one of the dirtiest -
"Iconic throughout the world, Sydney Harbour is home to more fish species than you’ll find in the Mediterranean Sea. Sadly, it’s also one of the most polluted waterways in Australia, with around 1.5 tonnes of plastic finding its way into the harbour every hour."
The team had a short briefing on the sand, before heading out on the water armed with buckets and sieves. It wasn’t long before they were collecting everything from small pieces of plastic wrapping, to milk bottles, car parts, a brush & even a baby shoe! Although the briefing included instruction that this was NOT a competition, the elbows were definitely out & the race was on to be the top bucket filler. Find of the day went to new team member, Dan, who picked up a $5 note from the water.
Who says conservation work doesn’t pay!
Overall, the team collected over 3.7kg of rubbish in just under an hour, which will be packed down in a local centre & reused. Sydney by Kayak also donate $15 from every seat sold to support local conservation initiatives. To date, they have raised over $30,000.
