Covid-19 and the resultant lockdowns have made us think of innovative ways to continue cleaning beaches and supporting citizen science efforts to contribute to eliminating plastic waste. Even during lockdown, significant volumes of plastic waste were found along our coastlines – and most of it originating from land-based litter. Our Dirty Dozen toolkit, designed by Prof. Peter Ryan from the University of Cape Town, tracks 12 commonly found plastic litter items around South Africa. This helps us to identify the source of the litter and advocate for changes in consumption and waste management habits.
We have taken it to a new level, given that beach cleanup groups are likely to be restricted in size for the foreseeable future. We know that you still want to make a difference, not only in keeping our beaches clean but in providing the proof needed to bring about sustainable production and consumption. And so, we have taken our Dirty Dozen Cleanup® Toolkit digital.
Our Dirty Dozen Cleanup™ Toolkit is designed to be used by individuals, groups of families and friends and by other beach cleanup organisations around the world. The goal? To collect rigorous data that supports the call for change to the way we buy, use and discard plastics.