Great Ocean Road Coast Committee Blog
News and stories from our iconic coast
Have you ever wanted to visit an iconic Australian landmark but feel guilty about the impact on the environment and local wildlife? There is now a solution for this common dilemma. Autopia Tours have partnered with a not-for-profit, volunteer operated Tour Company; Trash Bags on Tour. With the purpose of bringing tourists and travellers to Victorian landmarks, to pick up rubbish! Read more
Great Ocean Road Coast’s conservation team recently undertook works to address an old overgrown drain at Torquay’s back beach, emptying into the sea near Voss’ car park.
Conservation Worker Scott Hives set about designing a solution. Read more
What’s a nurdle? A nurdle is a very small pellet of plastic which serves as the key material in the manufacture of plastic products. Countless billions of these small plastic balls are used each year to make nearly all our plastic products.
Accidental spillage and mishandling means that countless nurdles have ended up in our oceans, wreaking havoc on the environment.
Mistaken for food by our marine-life and seabirds, nurdles and other plastics can make animals very sick when ingested.
Each year the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee receives multiple reports of illegal activities, with staff regularly discovering evidence of poor behaviour on the coast, particularly during peak season. This summer has been no different with a recent spate of illegal behaviour on coastal reserves along the Surf Coast.
Multiple coastal sites in Torquay, Lorne, and Anglesea have been impacted by people lighting fires, littering and destroying vegetation. Party sites are particularly destructive to native vegetation, as trees are cut for firewood and rubbish is often left behind, not to mention the damage made to the stability of fragile dune systems.
Coast Guardians from Geelong Lutheran College have recently collected rubbish from the dunes at Whites Beach, Torquay.
Asides from helping to clean up the coastline and prevent marine debris from impacting our precious wildlife, the aim of the day was to collect data for the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) database. The AMDI works with industry and government to create change on a larger scale, and aims to work on solutions to stop the flow of litter at the source. Read more
Plastic pollution is no joke, Education Coordinator Hilary Bouma said as she forwards the video of Rusty Swordfish and the latest marine debris film by Jarrod Boord.
“Plastic pollution is not something to laugh about, but we need to get the message out there and start getting people talking about the small actions we can all take everyday to help protect our planet. Read more
Great Ocean Road Coast Committee staff were left frustrated after a small truck load of rubbish and debris was illegally dumped on the Beach Road side of Taylor Park last night.
Discarded pieces of concrete, bricks and other building supplies were left in Taylor Park on top of mulch and dirt piles the Great Ocean Road Coast use to improve the vegetation at the popular park area. Read more
Did you know that Australia is one of the highest per capita producers of waste in the world? Every year we burn through 18 million tonnes of waste, which affects our birds, seals, whales, turtles and all other marine wildlife. Read more
The Fresh Air Kids is a group of local families that want their children to spend time in the great outdoors, learning through playing in nature.
A community partnership with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, Fresh Air Kids aims to encourage local coastal kids to grow up observing the environment in more detail than even most adults do. Read more
Litter and rubbish pollution continue to cause major problems on coastal reserves, hampering group efforts to protect the natural environment on the Surf Coast.
Each week the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee invests significant resources into cleaning up rubbish on the foreshore and incorporating litter collection into their education programs. Read more
