Clean up of Harbour gets heavy – NT Seafood Council
Clean up of Harbour gets heavy – Northern Territory Seafood Council
After a morning of removing rubbish from the Darwin Harbour the data has been crunched and confirmed one of the heavier years on record with indicators pointing to an increase of illegally dumped items.
‘Over 150 people were working across 10 land and 4 water-based sites, with 9 boats around Darwin Harbour,’ said Northern Territory Seafood Council, Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Katherine Winchester.
‘This year a total of 4.2 tonnes was collected most of which was made up of heavy items such as 27 car tyres, a flat screen tv, mattresses and an arm chair.’
‘Some of the odder things collected this year were a rusty wok, furniture trolley, a large unidentifiable bone and a drink bottle brand not sold in Australia.
The top litter offenders were firework pieces, cigarette butts, broken glass and drink cans and it was disappointing to see a return of plastic six pack rings.
The clean-up was again strongly supported by private businesses, community groups, government agencies, non-government organisations and the general community.
It’s wonderful to see the enthusiasm and concern for our harbour that has seen this event reach its eighth anniversary,’ Ms Winchester said.
The aim of Darwin Harbour Clean-Up is to raise awareness of the sources and effect of rubbish ending up in the sea and to encourage everyone to bin it or take it with you.
The 2017 Darwin Harbour Clean-Up is organised by the NT Seafood Council and supported by Territory Natural Resource Management through funding from the Australian Government.
Further funding, resources, staff and volunteers are provided by numerous supporters and participants.
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Twitter: NTSCouncil and #DHCU
Media Contact: Donna English 08 8981 5194