Windy Days and ONE tonne of litter!

Despite being swept up in the whirly ways of the wind at Saturdays Newcastle Scavenge it was exciting days! This marked our twelfth Scavenge and we’re pretty stoked that the 41.03kg of litter collected from Merewether and surrounds tipped our scavenge tally into the one tonne realm.

Obviously boasting that we’ve picked up 1020.56kg of trash from beaches across the East Coast has its contradictions. Ideally that litter wouldn’t have been there in the first place and that’s why Seaside Scavenge is as much about trying to change habits as it is about cleaning up the beach.

Changing how you drink your coffee, how you purchase your clothes, how you empty your bin, because it’s actually up to each and every one of us to reduce our waste. When you throw something away unfortunately there isn’t an away, especially when it comes to plastics.

Most of the single-use products we use daily are made from plastic. Plastic is a resource made from oil that takes hundreds if not thousands of years to break down. Yet, it is used in products designed to last just one use or in the case of a plastic bag just 7 minutes.

That’s why we loooove having local legends like Deanne Maree share their upcycling skills at the Scavenge. She braved the winds on Saturday to share her skills in making reusable bags out of old t-shirts, showing anyone how to rethink the way we use stuff!

We’re hugely thankful that so many people donate their pre-loved stuff to get people picking up. To date we have redistributed 1579.46kg of peoples belongings. As well as the multitudes of wicked prizes from local businesses that get passed over to the folk who go that extra yard to pick up.

Sandra Mellos definitely took the cake on Saturday collecting 389 pieces of litter. Hope she can kick back and relax with $100 at Scratchley's On The Wharf. Oscar and his mate were scavenging about all day so we wanted to say thanks for collecting 133 butts by offering them some scrumptious treats to the value of $50 from to Hunter Organics Food.

We had businesses all over Newy going plastic-free with us on Saturday. Big hats off to Hubro, Scotties and Dixon Park Café for going topless on their coffees (lidless!). As well as Merewether Butcher and Darby Street Quality Meats whom took it old school offering only butchers paper. Darby Street generously put up a $25 voucher to the scavenger that collected the most plastic bottles, Mykala Murray we hope you enjoy that!

There sure were some odd items pulled in on Saturday, between mouth guards, chewed up vortexes and hair-ties with Aldi toys attached. But we put it to the people and the water balloon still in tact bought in by Angela and her troop had us all scratching our heads. $150 to Hine McCabe Leather Vintage coming your way!

People were scavenging far and wide on Saturday but Ezra and Nick picked up trash from Merewether down to Leggy Point and back and for they’ve landed themselves a $50 voucher to Momo Café.

Last but never least is all the creative snaps that get taken on the day. Thanks to everyone that got in the vibe and tagged #seasidescavenge, there was one snap with a caption to match that we think couldn’t have been phrased any better… thanks @iswaldcobblepot !! See more snaps from the day here.

Thanks to all our entertainment, the wicked VanderAa brothers brewed up a storm of sounds. Jennie Phillips from www.alifestylelessplastic.com shared her hints and tips on how to avoid straws, coffee cups and to cut the convenience from plastics. Mel from Take3 and Bri from Surfrider let us know how and where to get involved in Newy, so look ‘em up if you’re looking for regular cleanups.

Of course the volunteers, many of whom came up from Sydney to lend a hand, thank you, thank you, thank you… as always nothing would happen without you. We hope you enjoyed a wind-down at The Beach Hotel… thanks to these guys our trash currency worked in the real world… trash for beers, the way of the future!