October 11, 2024 • 7 mins
Our oceans are filled with a variety of things: sea creatures, plants, algae, coral, rubbish. Some things belong there, and some don’t.
Since ‘Litter Intelligence’ began back in 2018, citizen scientists have picked up, counted, and weighed over 621,000 individual pieces of litter from coastal survey areas across Aotearoa, more than 75% of which is plastic.
Sustainable Coastlines has launched their ‘Trash Species of Aotearoa New Zealand’ campaign, and Kate ‘Ethically Kate’ Hall joined Jack Tame to discuss the most common species, and chat about the ways we can keep them from filling our oceans.
Key Litter Species facts:
- Scollipop (lollipop sticks): 8,301 sticks recorded in Litter Intelligence coastal litter surveys. Lots near kids' playgrounds!
- Gutterfish is part of the construction waste family, which makes up more than 20% of the litter removed from Litter Intelligence coastal survey sites, by weight.
- Blue snackeral is from the food wrappers family, which Litter Intelligence data tells us has been collected a colossal 39,013 times.
- Pauarade features a plastic bottle top, one of the most common items collected in surveys we find an average of 18 for every 1,000m2 of coastline.
- Smoki (cigarette butts and filters) are the 8th most common trash species found in Litter Intelligence beach surveys, with the data reporting over 18,890 collected to date.
For more information visit the Sustainable Coastlines site here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks That'd be Now.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Sustainability commentator Kate Hall is with us this morning. Calder Kate, Hey, Jack,
and we are talking about litter in the ocean. And
this is one of those things that every time any
of us walks along the beach and you see all
the bits of rubbish and plastic and things on the beach,
you kind of feel sick inside. But of course that's
always you know, that's like a you're only just kind
(00:33):
of scraping the very edge of the problem, right, and
you're behind a new effort to try and clean up
our oceans a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah. So Sustainable Coastlines have I think probably most people
know about them, and they're exactly what it sounds like,
disencouraging people to clean up our coastlines and oceans. And
they've just released this kind of litter intelligence report because
they've been working with you know, thousands of individuals doing
beach clean up, so they know the types of rubbish
(01:03):
that are most common and you know, kind of the
main culprit so that we can actually kind of catch
our waist from the start, because you know, most people
as you think about all those pieces of litter on
the coastline, they probably have come from a household who
didn't think they were littering, you know, like just it's
blown away in the wind. Because yeah, like i'd like
(01:25):
to think that most kiwis don't just throw things on
the ground, you know. So yeah, with this kind of
litter intelligence report they've come out, you know, and fish
and chip shops how there's a kind of specie chat,
the classic you know, and I probably it's kind of
as it's mandatory for fish and chip shops for New
Zealand to have that fish species chat. So they've taken
(01:48):
that classic visual and turned it into trash species of
Altado and New Zealand. So it's really like it's I
think it's great because.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's it's very clean people I've seen yeah, yeah, very clear. Yeah,
it's very it's very Yeah, and you're totally right. So
that just to just to remind people, you know, the
classic species chart at the fish and chip shop. I
think you can get like cool ones now because you
know how it used to be like that. You always
had the kind of grimy one at the fish and
chip shop. There was all hair grease on it and
that kind of yeah. But you could look at it
(02:19):
and you'd be like, oh, there is an orange ruffy,
there's a John Dory, there's a snapper, there's a you know,
and this is it's a it's a reimagined one, but
all of the species are trash.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yes, yep. There's like a blue pod, which is kind
of a vague kind of container. There's smoky, which is
cigarette bats. I mean that's kind of one of the
main things. I've actually been standing on the beach once
and someone thrown there literally onto the onto the sand,
(02:51):
and I said, oh, sorry, you dropped this.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But what they what did they say? Imagine doing that?
Well they should feel Really.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
It's a cultural thing, like even with ret bats, right,
it's almost like I would say, probably most people who
drop cigarette bets, for small percent who still smoke, they
wouldn't drop any other litter, you know, then lists. It's
just a cultural thing that we're not exactly Yeah, the
other one I love on that chart. I mean, obviously
(03:23):
I don't love this because it would be cool if
this chat didn't exist, it didn't have listen. But the
cord fish, I think it was a great result it's
made up of like cables and parts of you know,
fishing line and rope. That's something I find personally, because
I live right by the ocean, a lot of that
I try to pick up, you know, at least whenever
(03:43):
you walk along along the ocean. I sometimes feel quite
guilty that I don't have time to do a beach
plane every day, but I pick up at least three
it's usually five, a little bits of rubbish. And it
is quite surprising when I walk and I have you know,
I can see there's heaps of people have trodden. I
can see all the footprints that a lot of this
(04:04):
rubbishers just sitting there. That if every one of those
people would have walked past had picked up, you know,
even just three or five pieces. Yeah, it's really important.
So I hope that this kind of visual as the
same Coastlines have created and they've got exhibitions down at
their space in Auckland at the moment, will help people
actually see this and go, oh my gosh, like it's
(04:25):
not just the fashion marine life in our oceans. These
things are just really really adding up, you know, like
they had is that the skullipops. That's one of my
favorite names of one of the species and the trash
species chat looks like a lollipop wrapper. Yeah, and they've
picked up since twenty eighteen eighty three and one.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And these are plastic eight like this is the thing
for and so that it's not breaking down in the ocean.
You know, I'm not saying you should be throwing away
like a popsicle stick or something like that that is
wooden't but the plastic is a big concern because it
takes so long to degrade. And so totally those lollipop
sticks there, eight hundred eight, three hundred six those are plastic.
They're like the chubber chop lollipop sticks right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And out of all of the litter that they collected,
so six hundred and twenty one thousands individual pieces that've
collected since twenty eighteen, seventy five percent of that is plastic,
like made up of plastic. Yeah, and obviously there's a
lot of you know, the gutter fish on that chart
is the construction waste is a huge, huge issue. I think,
(05:32):
you know, there's this piece, this really awesome visual chart
that you know will be around the place, well hopefully
help people realize Yeah, these these things we should obviously
cap you know, especially over summer, we're spending a lot
more time at the beach. You just take a few
pieces home. You don't have to turn your whole holiday
into the beach crean app though it does get fun personally,
(05:56):
I think so anyway, but also just stopping it from
the get go, you know, thinking do I need to
get a lollipops? Like, is there is there another snack
or treats that I could bring my kids, you know,
to the playground. How can I stop this from the source?
You know, how can I reduce my waist, reduce my packaging,
maybe buy things more in bulks so there's less kind
(06:17):
of single use, and just be really conscious of one
of the little actions you can make so you don't
add to the trash species.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that that is a vital message.
So just just to give our listeners a bit of
an idea of some of the other things on the
trash species. Power Aid is in Power has plastic plastic
bottle tops, which is I think one of the most
common found items and beaches, right, so they reckon they
find one for every one thousand square meters of coastline.
They find eighteen plastic bottle tops. Crazy, that's crazy. Food
(06:54):
wrappers are pretty high up there as well. Like you say,
the cigarette butts and filters are a big issue as well.
So how can people go and see the poster and
support this work?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Okay, So Samuel coastlines dot org is that you can
find poster. You can even buy a poster, you know,
to have your work or in your fish and chip
shop in anywhere. And yeah, you can go down and
see what they have up. Be really involved again. All
the information that Cinma coastlines dot org very good.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We're going to put a copy of that post up
on the website as well so people can go and
have a look at it. Oh here's a classic, the
soy sauce things from sushi. Ah ah, there's a classic.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah, we are they going to stop being created?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I know. Hey, thank you so much. Kate appreciate it
as always. That is Kate Hall, our sustainability commentator. You
can find her on all of the social media platforms
as well by searching ethically Kate.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine am Saturday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks That'd be Now.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Sustainability commentator Kate Hall is with us this morning. Calder Kate, Hey, Jack,
and we are talking about litter in the ocean. And
this is one of those things that every time any
of us walks along the beach and you see all
the bits of rubbish and plastic and things on the beach,
you kind of feel sick inside. But of course that's
always you know, that's like a you're only just kind
(00:33):
of scraping the very edge of the problem, right, and
you're behind a new effort to try and clean up
our oceans a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah. So Sustainable Coastlines have I think probably most people
know about them, and they're exactly what it sounds like,
disencouraging people to clean up our coastlines and oceans. And
they've just released this kind of litter intelligence report because
they've been working with you know, thousands of individuals doing
beach clean up, so they know the types of rubbish
(01:03):
that are most common and you know, kind of the
main culprit so that we can actually kind of catch
our waist from the start, because you know, most people
as you think about all those pieces of litter on
the coastline, they probably have come from a household who
didn't think they were littering, you know, like just it's
blown away in the wind. Because yeah, like i'd like
(01:25):
to think that most kiwis don't just throw things on
the ground, you know. So yeah, with this kind of
litter intelligence report they've come out, you know, and fish
and chip shops how there's a kind of specie chat,
the classic you know, and I probably it's kind of
as it's mandatory for fish and chip shops for New
Zealand to have that fish species chat. So they've taken
(01:48):
that classic visual and turned it into trash species of
Altado and New Zealand. So it's really like it's I
think it's great because.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's it's very clean people I've seen yeah, yeah, very clear. Yeah,
it's very it's very Yeah, and you're totally right. So
that just to just to remind people, you know, the
classic species chart at the fish and chip shop. I
think you can get like cool ones now because you
know how it used to be like that. You always
had the kind of grimy one at the fish and
chip shop. There was all hair grease on it and
that kind of yeah. But you could look at it
(02:19):
and you'd be like, oh, there is an orange ruffy,
there's a John Dory, there's a snapper, there's a you know,
and this is it's a it's a reimagined one, but
all of the species are trash.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yes, yep. There's like a blue pod, which is kind
of a vague kind of container. There's smoky, which is
cigarette bats. I mean that's kind of one of the
main things. I've actually been standing on the beach once
and someone thrown there literally onto the onto the sand,
(02:51):
and I said, oh, sorry, you dropped this.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But what they what did they say? Imagine doing that?
Well they should feel Really.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
It's a cultural thing, like even with ret bats, right,
it's almost like I would say, probably most people who
drop cigarette bets, for small percent who still smoke, they
wouldn't drop any other litter, you know, then lists. It's
just a cultural thing that we're not exactly Yeah, the
other one I love on that chart. I mean, obviously
(03:23):
I don't love this because it would be cool if
this chat didn't exist, it didn't have listen. But the
cord fish, I think it was a great result it's
made up of like cables and parts of you know,
fishing line and rope. That's something I find personally, because
I live right by the ocean, a lot of that
I try to pick up, you know, at least whenever
(03:43):
you walk along along the ocean. I sometimes feel quite
guilty that I don't have time to do a beach
plane every day, but I pick up at least three
it's usually five, a little bits of rubbish. And it
is quite surprising when I walk and I have you know,
I can see there's heaps of people have trodden. I
can see all the footprints that a lot of this
(04:04):
rubbishers just sitting there. That if every one of those
people would have walked past had picked up, you know,
even just three or five pieces. Yeah, it's really important.
So I hope that this kind of visual as the
same Coastlines have created and they've got exhibitions down at
their space in Auckland at the moment, will help people
actually see this and go, oh my gosh, like it's
(04:25):
not just the fashion marine life in our oceans. These
things are just really really adding up, you know, like
they had is that the skullipops. That's one of my
favorite names of one of the species and the trash
species chat looks like a lollipop wrapper. Yeah, and they've
picked up since twenty eighteen eighty three and one.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And these are plastic eight like this is the thing
for and so that it's not breaking down in the ocean.
You know, I'm not saying you should be throwing away
like a popsicle stick or something like that that is
wooden't but the plastic is a big concern because it
takes so long to degrade. And so totally those lollipop
sticks there, eight hundred eight, three hundred six those are plastic.
They're like the chubber chop lollipop sticks right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And out of all of the litter that they collected,
so six hundred and twenty one thousands individual pieces that've
collected since twenty eighteen, seventy five percent of that is plastic,
like made up of plastic. Yeah, and obviously there's a
lot of you know, the gutter fish on that chart
is the construction waste is a huge, huge issue. I think,
(05:32):
you know, there's this piece, this really awesome visual chart
that you know will be around the place, well hopefully
help people realize Yeah, these these things we should obviously
cap you know, especially over summer, we're spending a lot
more time at the beach. You just take a few
pieces home. You don't have to turn your whole holiday
into the beach crean app though it does get fun personally,
(05:56):
I think so anyway, but also just stopping it from
the get go, you know, thinking do I need to
get a lollipops? Like, is there is there another snack
or treats that I could bring my kids, you know,
to the playground. How can I stop this from the source?
You know, how can I reduce my waist, reduce my packaging,
maybe buy things more in bulks so there's less kind
(06:17):
of single use, and just be really conscious of one
of the little actions you can make so you don't
add to the trash species.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that that is a vital message.
So just just to give our listeners a bit of
an idea of some of the other things on the
trash species. Power Aid is in Power has plastic plastic
bottle tops, which is I think one of the most
common found items and beaches, right, so they reckon they
find one for every one thousand square meters of coastline.
They find eighteen plastic bottle tops. Crazy, that's crazy. Food
(06:54):
wrappers are pretty high up there as well. Like you say,
the cigarette butts and filters are a big issue as well.
So how can people go and see the poster and
support this work?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Okay, So Samuel coastlines dot org is that you can
find poster. You can even buy a poster, you know,
to have your work or in your fish and chip
shop in anywhere. And yeah, you can go down and
see what they have up. Be really involved again. All
the information that Cinma coastlines dot org very good.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We're going to put a copy of that post up
on the website as well so people can go and
have a look at it. Oh here's a classic, the
soy sauce things from sushi. Ah ah, there's a classic.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah, we are they going to stop being created?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I know. Hey, thank you so much. Kate appreciate it
as always. That is Kate Hall, our sustainability commentator. You
can find her on all of the social media platforms
as well by searching ethically Kate.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine am Saturday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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