Millions of polystyrene pieces pollute iconic beach: 'Snowing in Bondi'
Experts are calling for a polystyrene ban after Sydney's beaches were littered in the "horrendous" substance.
Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach has been littered with millions of pieces of polystyrene, after a polluting incident in waters 17km away.
As sunbathers and swimmers enjoyed the summer sun, I took a few minutes to help local man James McIntosh clean up the mess on Friday morning. Just metres away from the beach's iconic Pavillion, the sand was choked with sticky wads of polystyrene that was nearly impossible to separate from the sand.
James had first noticed the spill covering at least 100 metres of sand last night, and the scale of the discovery left him “disappointed” but also “confused” about where it came from.
Where did the microplastics come from?
Dr Michelle Blewitt from the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP) is one of the country’s leading authorities on the impact plastics like polystyrene have on our oceans. Her team have expertise in tracing how these light particles travel hundreds of kilometres on ocean currents and pollute far-away shores.
She believes the spill is likely linked to the stranding of a boat towing a pontoon 17km away at Long Reef on Sydney’s northern beaches on December 7, which resulted in polystyrene that had been used to float the vessel being strewn across rocks close to the site and as far away as Manly.
“The thing with polystyrene is it’s light and it floats. So with winds that have been occurring, and the waves and the currents, it's going to be spread very, very far,” Blewitt told Yahoo News Australia.
“The retrieval of it is so difficult. The clean up is going to be tough.”
Urgent call for polystyrene ban
Plastic is transforming beaches around the world. In April, we used an AI program to predict how Sydney Harbour could look if the problem isn't stopped. While it looks unsightly to humans, it's a frequent killer of marine life as birds, fish and turtles mistake it for food, and it's been linked to a horrible new disease called plasticosis.
Resident James was one of many who posted about the problem at Bondi which spread across social media on Thursday night. "Urgent: Polystyrene balls littering the middle to south end of the beach," he wrote. “It’s snowing in Bondi,” another person lamented before joining James in urging locals to get down to the beach and help clean up the waste.
Local Independent MP Allegra Spender took to social media to share her horror at the “ugly mess” littering the beach. “My priority in the federal Parliament has been to legislate targets that will put us on the path to purging plastic pollution for good,” she said.
While Waverley Council rakes Bondi Beach five nights a week, its heavy machinery is unable to get close to the shore where the polystyrene is. In response to this week's incident it acknowledged the "devastating" impact microplastics have on the environment, but said they are difficult to remove because of their size.
Blewitt said her team at AUSMAP would attempt to collect scientific samples of the polystyrene at Bondi to confirm whether it is linked to the Long Reef incident.
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Despite polystyrene being a known problem, retailers like Big W continue to sell it as beanbag filling. While the substance has been banned in some forms in Australia, Blewitt has long advocated for a more widespread ban of polystyrene, which she describes as “horrendous stuff”.
“We find polystyrene in 100 per cent of our samples around the country, from the ball type found in beanbags to the foam that comes in sheets,” she said. “It’s extremely damaging to the environment because you can’t recycle it and it has a high hazard rating as well.”
You can find out more about AUSMAP's work here.
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