Ocean Festival Cove Cleanup

Beach clean with Eco Adventure Crew, survey microplastics with AUSMAP or strawkle with Operation Straw, and participate in the Reshaping Waste workshop with Pittwater Eco Adventures.

What is a strawkle?

A strawkle is a snorkel for straws and other marine debris. Since Summer 2018, volunteers have collectively removed over 5,000+ straws from Manly Cove.

What happens during the beach clean?

During the beach clean, you’ll be strolling the beach: both dry sand and tideline, to find rubbish of all shapes and sizes. On particularly rubbish days you may also want to wade the water to rescue it from the shallows of the sea.

What is a microplastic survey?

Our friends at AUSMAP are on a mission to solve a problem that’s difficult to see – microplastics! You see, plastic doesn’t decompose, it just gets smaller so now our oceans are now full of teeny, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm!

AUSMAP survey the sand for microplastic, so by sifting through the sand you’ll help find out how much microplastic is hanging around Manly Cove.

What do you need for the event?

All equipment will be provided for the beach clean and microplastics survey, however, we do recommend you dress for the weather including closed-in shoes for the beach, and perhaps bring a small towel too.

For our ‘Reshaping Waste’ initiative we are currently collecting bottle tops types 2, 4, and 5. We would love to take your donations so whether you’re already collecting or are now going to start please bring those with you in a clean state.

If you’re a hot beverage drinker we’d also love for you to bring your keep cup to save waste entering back into our environment.

For the strawkle:

• You must bring your own snorkel, mask, and fins. Wetsuits are optional but recommended due to the temperature of the water.
• If you don’t have snorkel gear, contact our friends at Pittwater Eco Adventures to rent some for the event.
• You must be a competent swimmer and confident in the water and already know how to snorkel as we do not provide training.

What happens at the event?

• Before 9am: Meet on the grass patch outside the Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
• 9am: Briefing and gear up.
• 9:10-10am: Cleanup
• 10-10:30am: Debris sort, count, document, and disposal.
• (Optional) After 10:30am: Networking, pack down, and disband to enjoy the rest of the day.