On Saturday April 25th, the Queensland Cash for Containers team joined forces with Scouts Queensland and took to the beaches to create a statement the local media could not ignore. Using over 2000 cans and bottles largely collected from Gold Coast beaches, parks and waterways, we created the world’s largest surfboard sculpture made from recycled litter. Measuring 13.3m long and 3.5m wide, the attempt was made on the Gold Coast and will be submitted for a new record on recordsetter.com.

The campaign to make sure NSW gets the world-class container deposit system is in full swing. We’re down to the last few weeks before the government decides whether to step up to the plate and really do something to tackle the pollution caused by discarded drink bottles and cans. Mike Baird and his advisors are currently reading through the 11,000+ submissions supporters like you have written in support of Cash for Containers.

What’s something you don’t see every day?

Politicians from all four major political parties agreeing on something? Yep, you got it.

Last week, that’s exactly what we saw from Liberal, Labor, Nationals and Greens politicians. They all believe in Cash For Containers.

Boomerang Alliance and our partners have been out and about on the Gold & Sunshine Coasts and Bribie Island over the summer to promote Cash for Containers in Queensland. We have partnered with Wildlife Queensland, the Surfrider Foundation, Noosa Biosphere Association, Gecko (Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council) and the Sunshine Coast Environment Council - and many, many community activists, to make C4C a big issue to put pressure on state and local politicians from all parties to support the program.

Can you help us win this once and for all? 

Yes, I’ll chip in a small donation to help beat Coke and get Cash for Containers.  

Over 250 residents of the Livingstone Shire community cleaned litter from the beach and gathered in support of a Cash for containers scheme on Yeppoon on Saturday 28 November. They were joined by Plastic Bag Free Ambassador, Bob Irwin, State MP for Keppel, Brittany Lauga, Mayor of Livingstone, Bill Ludwig, local legend Alby Wooler (who won the 2015 Queensland Leadership in Sustainability Award) and Assistant Regional Commissioner of Scouts in Central Queensland, Dwayne Kersey

Toby Hutcheon from Boomerang alliance formally launched the C4C campaign in Central Qld and Plastic Bag Free Livingstone launched a State Parliament e-petition in support of cash for containers.

'Livingstone Shire is the first place in Queensland where community organisations, the local State MP and the local Shire Council have all come together to back a cash for containers scheme in Queensland. With polling showing that 85% of Queenslanders support cash for containers, we now look forward to other communities following the Livingstone lead.’
said Toby Hutcheon from Boomerang Alliance.

Read the media release

All photographs are by Malcolm Wells.

Dear Minister,

At the last meeting of environment ministers the issue of removing plastic bags from the litter stream and marine environment was discussed. Since that time the need for a ban and significantly reducing the landfilling of plastic has become even more urgent.

There is increasing evidence that even though a small percentage of bags are littered and then broken up into smaller and smaller pieces – they have a devastating impact on the environment. This includes so called ‘biodegradable’ bags, which are just as dangerous in the marine environment.

With the CSIRO Marine Debris Report 2014 estimating there are over 124 billion individual pieces of visible plastic littering the Australian coastline – and a large legacy of plastic from previous years becoming microplastic – action needs to be taken on multiple fronts.

Plastic pollution is a major threat to wildlife. Globally it is estimated that 1 million sea birds and over 100,000 mammals die every year as a result of plastic ingestion or entanglement. Of great concern are the secondary microplastics derived from broken up bags and bottles.

The CSIRO suggest that ‘by 2050 ‘99% of all sea birds will have plastic in their gut’. In Queensland, research conducted by the UQ Research Station on Stradbroke Island has concluded that 30% of sea turtles deaths in Moreton Bay are attributable to plastic ingestion, with a further 6% due to entanglement.

As our understanding of the threat of marine plastic pollution improves – the impacts are being rapidly upgraded – most recently, in September this year, Queensland University expanded on CSIRO’s previous estimates in the Scientific Journal ‘Global Change Biology’ concluding that “over half of the world’s sea turtles have eaten plastic or human rubbish”.

Recent data released by the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service found that over 70% of loggerhead turtles found dead in Queensland waters have ingested plastic.

We estimate that some 180million bags enter the Australian environment every year (2% of consumption).

We are calling on Environment Ministers to take action and ban single use plastic bags. 

Click to read the full letter and our recommendations