Beach bingo and nurdles hunt: #PlasticFreeJuly is for kids too

Friday 20 July 2018

Adults and businesses are not the only ones that can take part in the #plasticfreejuly campaign - youngsters can also join in the global initiative which is intended to reduce plastic use and improve recycling worldwide.

Kids are being invited to complete a beach bingo, where they tick boxes after finding plastic waste on the beach, or go on the hunt for nurdles, microplastics that wash up on the sand.

Plastic Free July is a month-long campaign which launched two years ago in Australia to raise awareness of how much plastics people use. Local eco-warrior Sheena Brockie first brought the campaign to the island last summer and convinced local pubs and restaurants to say goodbye to plastic straws. Since then she has welcomed the Plastic Free challenge, developed by Surfers Against Sewage UK to tackle plastic pollution in coastal areas. 

This year, she urged islanders to live plastic free for a month, hoping they would pick up lifelong habits in the process. She also encouraged businesses to take part by saying goodbye to three plastic items.

With the summer holidays starting tonight, Sheena is hoping youngsters will also be joining in the fight against plastic pollution. And there are many ways they can. Plastic Free Jersey has designed a beach bingo card which kids can tick whenever they find plastic straws, balloons, toys or bottles in the sand. The aim is to help them realise how much waste ends up in the beach after it has been thrown away.

Pictured: Children are encouraged to take advantage of their time on the beach to go nurdle hunting.

While large pieces of plastic pollution are sadly quite visible on Jersey beaches, Plastic Free Jersey also wants young islanders to realise how many small pieces of plastics end up in the sand. They are therefore challenging them to go hunting for nurdles and microplastics to help give a view of how much there is around the island. Plastic Free Jersey ">provides a grid for the kids to lay the microplastics on so that they can see the volume and variety. They can then take a photo and share it with Plastic Free Jersey so that the team can get an idea of the volume and where it was found.

While Sheena recommends the path above the beach at Ouaisne as a hot spot for microplastics, they can be found on nearly every beach in the island. "And actually it’s more useful to get information on the beaches we know less about," she says.

Pictured: A lot of nurdles can be found on beaches.

A lot of schools around the island have signed up to the Plastic Free Jersey campaign since it launched earlier this year. Some schools have been holding plastic free days once a week, where single use plastics are banned from lunchboxes while others only allow reusable water bottles. Schools have also taken part in beach cleans to help children see the extent of plastic pollution, and some have even gone the extra mile and are working towards a Green Flag certification for eco-schools.

Sheena says: "It helps make more people conscious of the issue. By telling kids, we hope it flows out to their parents and siblings. It gets the whole family talking. Children are dictating what they want, it is lovely to see them leading the way.

"They are the future so it is absolutely essential they are involved."