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Sep 20, 2007
The coast is not clear: tyre and table among trash found
By Shobana Kesava
IT TOOK six men to hoist the unwieldy plastic road barrier out of
the muddy mangroves, another three to weigh it and one more to
record their find.
Jotting down the figure, teacher-volunteer Steve Early said: 'This
one weighs in at 19kg.'
Hauled out in the next 10 minutes were a 46kg tyre and a wooden
table that could seat eight which needed dismantling before it
could be weighed.
They were duly recorded under 'dumping activities' on the
International Coastal Cleanup Singapore's (ICCS) data card of
human-made debris, trash and litter.
The 150 teacher and student volunteers from the Singapore American
School were at the Kranji mangroves cleaning up a short 400-metre
stretch of shoreline over the weekend.
They were part of a larger group of 2,856 volunteers who covered
about 15km of Singapore's coast.
Big pile of litter
ONLY those who visit the beaches at daybreak know its dirty secret.
Singapore's sandy shores are covered in litter, while garbage bins
nearby remain half-empty.
Cleaners took a break on Saturday for the International Coastal
Cleanup Singapore held annually on the third weekend of
September.
Said first-time volunteer Shazwani Mustaffa, 16, of St Andrew's
Junior College: 'It's very dirty. I don't know how all this ends up
here.
'I found plastic, styrofoam, glass bottles and mattresses.'
The National Environment Agency's Environmental Health Department
head of operations, Mr Tai Ji Choong, said flotsam which comes in
with the tide is particularly bad during the south-west monsoon
from May to October.
'We had our cleaners throw away a toilet bowl washed ashore,' he
added.
On beaches across Singapore where the public has access, the NEA
has about 40 cleaners removing rubbish before most beach-goers
arrive.
On the popular 11-km stretch of East Coast Park, about 15 of them
sweep, pick up and toss out trash on any given day, starting from
7am.
The volunteers took over their job on Saturday and collected 16,819
items weighing 2,600kg at East Coast Park alone - the highest
amount of trash collected on any beach open to the public.
In an indication that beach-goers were making a significant impact,
cigarette butts made it to the list of top three items collected on
all beaches open to the public.
Canadian Sandra Johnson, in her 30s, who takes weekend walks along
East Coast Park, said: 'I find the most trash near barbecue pits,
close to rubbish bins.
'Guests from overseas often comment on how clean Singapore is. If
they saw the East Coast Park on a weekend morning, I don't think
they'd feel the same way.'
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