Cafes up and down the eastern Australian coast are taking waste management into their own hands by offering a warm incentive for collecting trash from local beaches.

Waste warriors can now exchange a bucket’s worth of rubbish for a cup of coffee at a number of cafes along the eastern seaboard. The initiative has already resulted in benefits for local beaches as well as proving highly popular with locals who participated.

Earlier this year more than 15 northern beaches cafes signed up for the Rubbish 4 Coffee Initiative in Sydney, whilst cafes as far north as Stradbroke Island and Yeppoon have been lauded for doing their bit. With marine plastic pollution posing severe threats to coral health and marine life including dolphins, whales and seabirds, any plastic removed from the ecosystem is a big environmental win.

Plastic bottle lids have been noted as the biggest contributor to the waste being collected but other trash including toothbrushes, razors, thongs, plastic bottles, balloons and ribbons has also been found.

Here’s to the cafes doing their bit to encourage positive environmental change!

 

Positive Actions

• Always dispose of your trash in a responsible manner and refuse single-use plastics whenever possible.
• Join a Seaside Scavenge and clean up a local beach or waterway.
• Visit Recycling Near You for information on how to recycle items you aren’t sure of.
• Sign up to Plastic Free July and make your own pledge to reduce plastic consumption.

 

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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.