https://maribyrnonghobsonsbay.starweekly.com.au/news/local-volunteer-rubbishes-csiro-beach-waste-data/

An Altona Beach Patrol 3018 co-ordinator and volunteer has said a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [CSIRO] report showing plastic on Australian beaches had dropped by an average of 29 per cent was not reflective of the amount of waste on Altona Beach.

Sacha Blomer, who is one of the co-ordinators of the group which meets monthly to clean up the Altona Beach, said her experience at Altona Beach was that the amount of rubbish was growing at a rapid rate.

“The reality on the ground – from someone who is regularly collecting plastic from the beach – is that the amount of plastic rubbish found on our beaches has increased exponentially in just the last five years,” she said.

Lisa of the LOS 3030 Werribee group featured in an article recently on using the Litterstopper app to record plastic rubbish pick ups.

https://wyndham.starweekly.com.au/news/litter-app-to-count-trash/

Colleen from BeachPatrol Warrnambool is making real change  out in her area.  She is getting commercial fishermen to remove the plastic inlet part of their lobster pots.  These plastic inlets inevitably get broken up and get loose in the ocean.  Some wash ashore which is where Colleen finds them.   

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-02/lobster-pot-environmental-impact-plastic-free-warrnambool/100871510?fbclid=IwAR2a7s00RqOipzv7ZNQRw108X8LaPZotB_z_7ILNeYuRgeqFyYD2kbbPIwM

Warrnambool group Leader Colleen made a walk from Warrnambool to Port Fairy over 7 days to collect pleastic rubbish off the beach.   THis story was writen up in the Warrnambool Standard news paper.

Warrnambool BeachPatrol group leader Colleen did a 7 day walk form Warrnambool to Port Fairy picking up plastic rubbish all the way.   She laid it all out on a tennis court to show it off.   THis story was aired on 7 Prime TV on 8 Feb.

Beachpatrol 3280-3284 won the Keep Victoria Beautiful Tidy Town awards 202 for reducing litter in relation to their Better (Cotton) Buds campaign whch raised the issue of cotton buds and their plastic stems causing a lot of beach pollution.   This campaign was instrumental in getting the State government to ban plastic stem cotton buds.

https://www.facebook.com/colleen.hughson/videos/1329351924150941

Love Our Street 3042 Airport West has made it as a finalist in the Sustainable Cities Awarxds for 2021.  Congratulations to Luisa and her team there.

https://www.kvb.org.au/library/sc21_litter/

Warrnambool resident Colleen Hughson finds submarine flare at Terry's Beach, bomb squad and military called.

UNEXPECTED: Warrnambool resident Colleen Hughson found a submarine flare at Terry's Beach. Picture: Chris Doheny
A Saturday night community cleanup resulted in the bomb squad and military being contacted, after one volunteer unwittingly unearthed a 60-year-old submarine flare.
Beach Patrol's Colleen Hughson said she was cleaning near Terry's Beach on Saturday ahead of the 'Spring Clean Your Patch Event' when she came across an unfamiliar metal object.

"I found this thing yesterday that looked like a cannister and I didn't know what it was," Ms Hughson said.
"We were cleaning up at Terry's Beach last night and I took it home and I put it on Facebook asking if anyone knew what it was.
"This morning, I was doing some searching online and I came across something that looked similar and it said 'if you find this, do not touch it, call the police or the military immediately'.

"It didn't have any writing on it, so I thought I better contact the police about it. I sent them through some photos and then the bomb squad called me.
"They told me to get everyone out of the house and warn the neighbours. They told me to sit tight and they would treat it like a bomb.
"They told me they might have to close down my whole street. I was freaking out. "They called back and said it wasn't a bomb and I could go home. Turns out it was asubmarine flare, and the military had left Melbourne and were coming to pick it up."
The flare was collected by Australian Defence Force's explosives team just after 4pm today.

Colleen Hughson talks about the plastic litter on their local beach Blacks beach as being the worst she had ever seen.

Warrnambool BeachPatrol is in the news again with their leader Colleen Hughson  discovering a guey sea snot on rocks along the beach they clean.   Experts think it is caused by pollution being dumped into the ocean. But no one is owning up to it.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-27/sea-snot-fears-for-warrnambool-in-south-west-victoria/100315192