A new campaign to have Bayside Council ban single-use plastics in all its activities will be launched at Kyeemagh Beach this Sunday, October 20.
The Bayside Waste Warriors campaign will focus on steps Bayside Council can take to help improve the local marine and on-shore environment.
Guest speaker at the launch will be University of NSW researcher Martina de Marcos whose background is in plastic waste management in islands.
Martina is the founder of "Limpiando el Mundo", a project through which she has raised awareness on the marine litter problem, giving talks in more than 11 countries in Latin America, in 170 different locations.
Bayside Waste Warriors spokesperson Peter Strong said, "We are privileged to have Martina speak at Kyeemagh Beach.
"As a local resident, I value the opportunity we have in Bayside to have the sea as our backyard and yet we know that Australians are using 3.92 billion single-use plastic bags per year.
"The average time a plastic bag is used is 12 minutes.
"The impact of plastics goes beyond anything we can imagine. Plankton is eating it, fish are eating it, birds are eating it, cattle are eating it. So, we really need to do something.
"I've kicked off this campaign to have Bayside Council ban single-use plastics because I can't stand by and do nothing," Mr Strong said.
"I'm asking the community to come down to Kyeemagh beach on Sunday, sign the petition to Bayside Council and help me clean the beach for an hour."
The Bayside Waste Warriors campaign will be launched at Kyeemagh Beach on Sunday at 2pm.
