Beach Litter Surveys 2004–05 Summary Report

BEACH LITTER SURVEYS 2004–05 SUMMARY REPORT

Publication 1021

November 2005

1. INTRODUCTION The surveys found a continued improvement in the appearance of the beaches (see Figure 1). The EPA Victoria again commissioned Keep Australia overall number of litter items, mainly cigarette butts Beautiful Victoria (KABV) to investigate litter on and small plastic items, remained steady. twelve Port Phillip Bay beaches during the summer of 2004–05. Regular beach cleaning by councils is helping to control beach litter. There are further opportunities for councils and beachgoers to keep their local beach clean.

As beachgoers we are all responsible for the condition of our beaches. Beachgoers must also play their part in protecting this special environment by disposing of their litter in bins provided or taking it with them when they leave

2. KEY FINDINGS

2.1. Visual Ratings

KABV rate each beach for visible litter. Ratings are between 0 and 10, with zero representing no litter and 10 representing a site covered in litter.

Figure 1 shows that in 2004–05 the beaches had less visible litter than in the previous year. The trend has continued to improve over the past six years with the beaches looking cleaner each year.

Photo 1: Cigarette butts comprise over 50% of all litter at the beach (Image courtesy of Victorian Litter Alliance)

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2.2. Survey Results 5 Surveys have been undertaken annually for the past 4 six years and allow EPA to track long-term patterns 3 in litter at these beaches. This enables the 2 identification of litter sources and helps to target 1 Average Rating litter-reduction initiatives. 0 The beaches were surveyed ten times from 21 00 05 December to 7 March. The sites are mostly in high- 1999- 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004- usage areas of Port Phillip Bay, one or more in each Survey period bayside municipality. Figure 1: Combined average beach visual rating KABV assess the amount of beach litter using two from 1999 to 2005 methods; full-scale and visible survey counts. Both methods count the amount of litter in a 48m2 beach

Table 1: Visual site ratings 2004–05 area. The full-scale survey removes the litter to Beach Range over 10 surveys determine accumulation between surveys. Port Melbourne 1 to 3 St Kilda 1 to 4 Both surveys methods revealed similar results (See Sandringham 1 to 3 Figure 2), which indicates that the litter is renewed Mordialloc 1 to 2 Seaford 0 to 4 each week. Mt Martha All 1 Rye 0 to 2 The total number of litter items were similar to 2003- Sorrento 0 to 3 Queenscliff 0 to 1 04 and the average over the past six years. Eastern 0 to 3 Werribee South All 0 The observed improvement in the visual appearance Williamstown 0 to 1 of the beaches is not reflected in the survey counts.

Most of the items counted were small and The visual ratings ranged from 0 to 4 (See Table 1). inconspicuous such as cigarette butts. Large, more The most littered appearance was at the popular visible litter items are more easily picked up. inner-city beach at St Kilda, with an average rating of

2.1 per survey. This is slightly improved its average from 2.2 last summer.

EPA Victoria 2 BEACH LITTER SURVEYS 2004–05 SUMMARY REPORT

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3 Full-scale survey counts 2 Visible survey counts Litter items per 10m 1

0 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Survey period

Figure 2: Average number of litter items at 12 Port Phillip Bay beaches

Table 2: Average number of litter items per beach in the full-scale survey1 The most littered beaches in 2004–05 continue to Items per 10m2 Site Name Municipality 04-05 6-year be inner-city beaches and those in the south-eastern avge suburbs. Pt Melbourne Port Phillip 8 6 St Kilda Port Phillip 9 9 Sandringham Bayside 12 10 2.3. Litter types Mordialloc Kingston 9 9 Seaford Frankston 9 8 During the beach surveys, litter is categorised Mt Martha Mornington Peninsula 4 3 Rye Mornington Peninsula 6 6 according to the number of each product type and Sorrento Mornington Peninsula 6 6 Queenscliff Queenscliffe 2 1 material. The most littered item continues to be Eastern Greater Geelong 7 6 Werribee Sth Wyndham 1 1 cigarette butts (See Figure 3). Williamstown Hobsons Bay 7 9 12-Beach Average 7 6 The results for cigarette butts are broadly consistent 1. Figures were calculated using counts within a 48m2 area, which were then adjusted to per 10m2. with other studies showing that cigarette butts account for around half of the litter stream. Table 2 shows that an average of seven pieces of Plastic items (straws, confectionery wrappers, bottle litter are present in a 10m2 area, (this equates to tops) were the second most littered product group in around one litter item per typical beach towel area). 2004–05, accounting for almost a quarter of the full- To reduce the amount of litter on our bayside scale survey. beaches, beachgoers must dispose of litter in bins provided or take it with them when they leave. There is also further opportunity to increase the effectiveness of council beach cleaning by targeting small litter items.

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on the beach. These appear to be emptied on a Other Wood Metal regular basis. 3% 3% 5% Cigarette Butts Glass 3.2. St Kilda beach 52% 4% Paper St Kilda beach is in a high use area and adjoins a 10% number of restaurants along the boardwalk. The beach is mechanically cleaned on a regular basis as well as being cleaned manually daily during summer. Plastic 23% On a number of occasions there was a build up of rubbish along the esplanade wall and around the Figure 3: Percentage of litter materials found storm water drain. in the full-scale survey 3.3. Sandringham beach

2.4. Rainfall and stormwater Sandringham beach was the most littered beach for the second year in a row. During summer there were some intense rainfall events, particularly during late January and early A promenade and life saving club is located near the February. Following the storm on 2 and 3 February survey areas. Only one bin is located on the beach, substantial amounts of litter and debris washed into which was overflowing on several occasions during the bay and onto beaches. Councils undertook the hotter periods over summer. Rubbish extensive beach cleaning and beach usage was accumulated around the promenade wall, shrubbery lower than usual at this time, so that the survey on 7 and life saving club. The stormwater drain was also February did not show high levels of litter. heavily littered after the rain

Although stormwater drains are not part of the 3.4. Mordialloc beach survey areas, it was noted that there was an Mordialloc beach has a promenade that is heavily increased amount of litter surrounding these areas. used and contributes to the amount of litter found on the beach. 3. BEACH OBSERVATIONS The beach is mechanically cleaned on a regular 3.1. Port Melbourne beach basis. It was noted that these machines tend to miss the smaller objects like plastics and cigarette butts. At Port Melbourne beach there was a build up of litter along the concrete edges of the Life Saving Club, kiosk and showers that appeared to be blown from the beach and promenade. A number of bins are placed on the promenade and there is also a bin

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Figure 4: Beaches sampled as part of Beach Report. The sites underlined are surveyed for beach litter

3.5. Seaford beach 3.7. Rye beach

Seaford beach is located near a pier and a little used Rye beach is in a high use area, with a car park, lifesaving club. Bins are located near the access playground, picnic areas and a caravan park in the paths to the beach and there are also facilities for vicinity. dog litter bags. Rye beach has barricades along the foreshore, 3.6. Mt Martha beach which makes it more difficult for beach users to dispose of rubbish, as the bins are located on the At Mt Martha beach owners of bathing boxes lining other side of the barricade. the beach tend to keep the areas around their beach boxes clean.

Mt Martha beach does not tend to attract a lot of litter although the bins in the car park are often overflowing after a hot day.

Photo 2: Rye beach on Australia Day 2005

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3.8. Sorrento beach Williamstown beach saw a major decrease in litter in the previous year due to the purchase of a new At Sorrento the survey area is located near access beach cleaner that substantially reduced the points from a caravan park whose visitors appear to amount of litter found. be the main users of the beach. Foot traffic is also quite common along the beach. 4. CONCLUSIONS A few dinghies are kept on the grass area where In 2004–05 there was a general improvement in the bottles and cigarette butts were frequently found. visual appearance of the surveyed beaches. The While there are no bins located on the beach, there trends in the number of litter items remained steady. is one bin in the caravan park. The most littered material type continues to be 3.9. Queenscliff beach cigarette butts, then plastics. Queenscliff beach is not as heavily used as other Beaches in Port Phillip Bay are regularly cleaned by beaches in Port Phillip Bay, but is popular during bayside councils, which tends to keep beach litter in holiday periods. Dog walkers appear to be the main check. Targeting small litter items could make users of this beach. further improvements. Beachgoers must also play The litter count for Queenscliff beach is one of the their part in keeping their local beach clean by lowest each year. disposing of their litter in bins provided or taking it with them when they leave. 3.10. Eastern beach There was an increased amount of beach litter Eastern beach is located on the popular waterfront observed around stormwater drains. Beachgoers are of Geelong. The sufficient number of bins along the reminded that litter dropped in the catchment will foreshore and regular cleaning of the beach and make its way to the Bay via rivers, creeks and surrounding areas help to control litter at this beach. stormwater drains. 3.11. Werribee South beach This report summarises the results from litter Werribee South beach is surrounded by farmland surveys conducted over the 2004–05 summer. More and is not heavily used. This site is consistently one information about the methods and results of the of the least littered survey sites. KABV surveys are outlined in EPA Publication 1020, 3.12. Williamstown Beach Port Phillip Bay beach litter survey 2004–05. Water quality at surveyed sites is monitored as part of Williamstown beach is in a small cove and has a EPA’s Beach Report program. A summary of the restaurant, kiosk, toilets and a lifesaving club close Beach Report Program is available in Publication to the survey area. A promenade is located along the 911, Beach Report 2004–05. length of the beach. A large amount of litter was found on the beach at the base of the promenade.

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