Team Clean Removes 50,167 Items of Rubbish from World Heritage Area

Media release – Team Clean, 25 February 2023

Team Clean removes 50,167 items of rubbish from the World Heritage Area

A committed team of 24 beach cleaners will return from Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area this morning, carrying a large haul of marine debris. Team Clean have spent the past ten days removing 50,167 items of rubbish from twelve of the island’s most remote and spectacular beaches.

“Our southwest coast is home to some of the most beautiful and inaccessible beaches on the planet. But every single day, thousands of pieces of plastic wash up onto the sand, placing the ecological integrity of this extraordinary coastline at extreme risk,” said cleanup coordinator Matt Dell.

“We’re advocating for the Tasmanian government to implement tighter regulations around the accountability of industrial fishing materials. We are collecting significant amounts of rubbish from the long line and trawl fishery and as of now, from the industrial fish farming industry. One clear practical step forward is to follow the lead of South Australia and Western Australia and ban bait straps.

“On the ground, Team Clean is on the case. Our 2023 expedition was a great success. We covered some new ground early in the trip, venturing north of Low Rocky Point to Point Hibbs, where we removed rubbish from beaches that we’d never cleaned before, including approximately 70 metres of black industrial fish feeding pipes. This involved the difficult task of getting these polluting pipes off the land and back onto the boats. These northern beaches contain significant amounts of larger debris — like buoys, floats, nets and very large industrial fishing ropes. We collected seven cubic metres of rubbish at Endeavour Bay, which was by volume very similar to the rubbish we collected during the first five cleanups of the southwestern beaches in the early 2000s.

“We are 100% committed to protecting our oceans and globally significant coastlines. Since 1999, Team Clean have removed 761,222 items of rubbish from the World Heritage Area,” concluded Matt Dell.

Team Clean is an 100% non-profit volunteer expedition that has been dedicated to protecting Tasmania’s World Heritage beaches since 1999. The clean up is a powerful tool for public education, advocacy and behaviour change.