Ocean Respect Racing removes two tons of trash from St. Helena Island with Ocean Crusaders
by 11th Hour Racing 2 Mar 2019 07:19 UTC
Ocean Respect Racing removes two tons of trash from St. Helena Island with Ocean Crusaders © Vestas 11th Hour Racing
As part of its sponsorship of Ocean Respect Racing, and its commitment to building a lasting legacy in Australia, 11th Hour Racing awarded a $10,000 grant to Ocean Crusaders to support the organization's mission to take action against plastic pollution.
Stacey Jackson, skipper and founder of Ocean Respect Racing, joined Ocean Crusaders for a clean up on St. Helena Island - a remote, uninhabited, internationally protected island off the coast of Brisbane, Australia, an important resting spot for migrating seabirds.
With the help of 200 volunteers, Ocean Crusaders removed two tons of trash. They also conducted an audit to understand what type of debris is washing ashore. From the 92 bags collected, the organization found:
- 1,350 plastic bottles
- 971 pieces of polystyrene
- 139 shoes
- 209 flip flops
- 189 glass bottles
- 4,620 pieces of hard plastic
- 26 tires
- 476 plastic lids
- 139 aluminum cans
- 139 metal tins under four liters
- More than 9,000 pieces of broken glass
For Ocean Crusaders founder Ian Thomson, this reinforced the need to educate Australians on the issue of using single-use plastic, noting 'the key to stopping plastic pollution is at the shop, by not purchasing the items, like plastic water bottles, that often end up in our ocean.'