Members Statement - Street2Bay Project

STREET2BAY PROJECT.

Wednesday 20 March, 2019.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (10:01):

Some estimate that 80 per cent of the plastics in our marine environment come from our streets. It is a confronting statistic.

Understanding the type of litter that feeds into our bay led the 1st/14th Brighton Sea Scouts to lead an initiative called the Street2Bay Project.

The project will conduct 500 street-litter audits around the bay, focusing on microplastics.

I joined in for an audit in Brighton recently and saw the importance of the project for policymakers.

It was confronting to see that roughly one third of the plastic waste was from cigarette butts.

I congratulate Brighton and Scouts Victoria on their project and for the estimated 5000 volunteer hours that will be committed to the initiative.