To better understand the causes of water pollution and protect the environment, researchers at the CSIRO are logging barcodes found on marine waste, in order to track their origins.
In December of last year, a group of scientists visited Manly’s Shelly Beach as part of a survey of marine debris along the 35,000km Australian coast. They uncovered a large quantity of glass and cigarette butts on their stay.
CSIRO research scientist Denise Hardesty, who leads the project, said her team had stopped every 100km up the coast to catalogue the waste found in each area and note certain critical factors including population density or any beach-cleaning programs.
The survey includes a 2m wide transect running from dunes to the waterline, followed by the use of a UAV with a camera attached that captures an image of the entire beach. Debris can be identified in the image and the information from the belt transect used to ground truth the debris identified in the image.
Any barcodes on items are recorded, helping researchers figure out where something was manufactured and packaged, sold and transported to, so that scientists can actually understand where we're losing things along the way.
Shelly Beach was the most densely populated site the group had visited.
“Even in a place where people are quite mindful of their environment there was a lot of debris on the beach,” said Dr Hardesty.
Dr Hardesty said the researchers would use all the data to draw up a ‘risk map’ and show where marine species were most likely to be threatened by debris.
“We will be setting up a national database so people can see our data and go out and collect their own data, so that people can actually contribute to what we do,” she said.
“Sometimes we find bits of balloons that even have phone numbers for where they have been released,” she said.
One-third of global marine debris resulted from the beverage industry, with commonly found items including bottles, cans and straws, Dr Hardesty said.
“They should all be something that is reused or recycled, not ending up in a stormwater drain or being tossed off a boat,” she said.
“Our goal is not to place blame or point fingers, but to find solutions to the problems,” she said.
