'Startling' KFC discovery off Queensland beach by clean-up divers
When Kentucky Fried Chicken opened its first Australian location in Sydney in 1968, a piece of chicken and a serving of chips would set you back 45 cents.
Fast forward to 2019 and the chicken may be more expensive, but the famous red logo has barely changed and divers from Queensland have the proof.
A local underwater clean-up group has found a plastic KFC bag estimated to be at least 40 years old during dive on the Sunshine Coast.
The founder of volunteer group Sunshine Coast Clean Up Divers, Elliot Peters, posted the photo on their Facebook group in May to demonstrate the environmental impact of plastic in our oceans.
“This startling discovery further proves the longevity of plastics, even in harsh environments,” the post read.
The bag was found under eight metres of ocean water off Bulcock Beach and “was almost fully intact when it was discovered underwater, half full of silt and tangled in rocks.”
The group complete monthly clean-up dives in the northern Pumicestone Passage and the Mooloolah River estuary, and reached out to KFC to find out how long the bag had been floating around.
“A spokesperson from KFC Australia stated ‘...judging by the logo it would be [from the] 70s-80s," the post said.
The unfunded group said they had collected more than 500kg of debris, “including almost 20km of fishing line” in the past 18 months on the dives and reported findings to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative and Project Aware.
“Sadly we are barely able to cover even 1000 square metres before we need to start again in the same spot,” the post read.
KFC Australia now uses more eco friendly paper bags but the image is a reminder that even with recent changes to our age-old habits, we will still live with the consequences for a long time to come.
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