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Sin eng-11 - marine litter
1. Raffles Institution
Year 2 Research Education
Design for Change School Challenge 2011
Project Marine
Team Leader: Sean Lim (2P)
Team Members: Eugene Lee (2C)
Ian Liew (2C)
Teacher-Mentor: Mrs Ramesh
2. Abstract
In accordance with the “Design for Change School Contest”, participants are required to
think of a problem and devise measures to resolve it.
Our team identified a troubling problem to be resolved. The underlying problem was:
“Excessive amount of marine litter on our beaches and in our waters”.
We hypothesized that the people frequenting East Coast Beach would find that the
waters were too dirty for their liking. Through multiple surveys and personal experiences,
our hypothesis was proven right. 62% of the respondents agreed that the beaches were
indeed too dirty.
This report is written based on the results of an on-site and online survey, complimented
by additional on-site research of the before and after situation of the severity of marine
litter.
4. Introduction
Marine litter is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat
in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate
on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter. Some
seeming forms of marine litter are created by human activities as they have been
discharging their waste material into the oceans for thousands of years. Recently
however, with the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as
many types of plastics do not biodegrade. Waterborne plastics and other types of
marine litter pose a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine
mammals, as well as to boats and coastal habitations. Ocean dumping, accidental
container spillages, litter washed into storm drains, and wind-blown landfill waste are all
contributing to this problem.
Many people take our generally clean waters for granted. Now, our waters are dirtier
than before. Although this has not progressed to such an irreversible state, if nothing is
done, it would only be a matter of time before it becomes reality. The problem of Marine
Litter is a common one. However, no measures have been taken to solve this problem.
Thus, however common this project may seem, we persisted in deciding to take the first
step in reducing the problem of Marine Litter.
By embarking on this project, we hope to educate the public on the negative
consequences marine litter poses, and hopefully instill the idea that the cleanliness of
our waters depends to a large extent on ourselves as an individual. The reason we
chose to educate the public instead of just simply cleaning up the beaches is because
we believe that public awareness is the root of the problem. By instilling public
awareness amongst the community, people would naturally acquire the intuitive sense
and desire to keep our waters clean.
5. Review of Literature
Our literature review has shown us the consequences of Marine Litter that aroused due to
Marine Litter. One of the articles that meant the most to us was an article by Kelly Wu titled:
“Not Only Fish Swim In Our Oceans” This article shows us the significance of Marine Litter in
our society currently. A survey at different locations along Ambon Bay, Eastern Indonesia
reported main densities of debris up to 8.6 items per square meter. With such astonishing
amounts of killer litter reported in our neighbouring country, its not surprising to think that a
similar amount of marine litter exists in our waters.
Another article by Shobana Kesava titled “Singapore Coastline Getting Dirtier”, confirms the
belief that our beaches are getting dirtier. “Over 9,755kg of waste, from plastic bags to
refrigerators, was fished off beaches and mangroves during a mammoth cleanup in September,
almost 400kg more than in 2007.” Unlike the above-mentioned article, this article mentions that
to reduce Marine Litter, one has to change the mindset of the people in order to see results.
Through careful observation, our group strongly believes so and our reasons are stated in the
results section.
With both of the articles representing our collection of articles in saying that action needs to be
taken to bring down Marine Litter, we can assume that this project has a prominent future if it is
successful and well-documented.
6. Methodology
Our survey was initially 2 pages consisting of 8 multiple choice questions and 2 open-
ended ones. However, after much consideration and consulting of our teacher mentor,
we agreed that 10 questions were too long a survey for anyone to complete at the
beach. Compared to any other venue, a beach is a venue for recreation and relaxation.
As such, people would not be interested in helping us with our surveys. After much
editing, our survey was reduced to a single page consisting of 5 multiple choice
questions, with each question bearing an indicative impact towards the scope of our
project.
We conducted an online and on-site survey, with the online one being conducted via
Facebook and the on-site one being conducted at East Coast Beach. Our participants
were based on the activities that they were engaging in, and also based slightly on
convenience. We avoided those who were engaging in physical activities, a
conversation and any other activities of which our surveys would have interrupted.
We had a relatively high response rate of approximately 70%. Some of the participants
took great effort in completing our surveys with well-thought answers. However, some of
them were going through the motion as their answers were contradictory. Furthermore,
there was a language barrier between some of the respondents who could not
understand English and were unable to complete our surveys. Despite efforts to
translate the contents of the survey, our efforts were futile. Some respondents were also
very inquisitive regarding our survey.
Our survey questions were drafted based on the importance they had towards our data
collection about the people’s opinion of the beach. We drafted questions which its
answers could only be obtained from the respondent’s point of view. We filtered out
7. informative questions from our initial survey as there were accurate and reliable
answers available to us online. We also added in new questions that were not in our
initial survey, questions which we found useful in our investigation. We consulted our
teacher mentor twice before she approved the content of the survey and gave us the
go-ahead. We found that surveys were the most effective way in soliciting personal
opinions of the public as it collects various points of views from different people which
would eventually result in more reliable data and results. Compared to online sources,
books and materials, surveys are like primary sources which allow us to get into direct
contact with people. To further elaborate, the results of surveys are ever-changing, with
different results obtainable at different time and locations. Also, since our target
audience for this project is the visitors of East Coast Beach, the surveys are one of the
only ways for us to come into contact with our target audience and hence, it would allow
us to gather very useful information, unique to surveys alone.
As a team, we went down to East Coast Beach over the course of 4 days to give out
surveys and collect information regarding the current state of a particular section of the
beach. We brought a notebook along with us to record additional information which was
provided by either survey respondents or self-realization. The observations were done
as a group with all of our visits to East Coast Beach done together. Over the course of
all our visits, we had general agreement amidst all the things that we were doing.
8. Results
Surveys
From this question and its given responses, we can tell that four fifths of our
respondents frequent the beach once a month or more. From this, we can infer that our
supposed course of action will not only benefit the environment but also greatly benefit
the majority of the people who visit the beach.
Besides this, they will tend to possess first-hand knowledge of the state of cleanliness of
the beach. This fact will lead us to believe that majority of the respondents have highly
reliable opinions.
9. From this question, many of the respondents think that the beaches at East Coast Park
are not clean enough. We can infer that many of the respondents think that marine litter
is a prevalent problem in our environment. With so many respondents giving negative
response towards the cleanliness of the beach, it proves our hypothesis correct that
people will not think that our beaches are clean enough.
Also, their negative response ties in with their response in the fifth question where
respondents greatly support us in taking action to solve this problem. Based on this
question alone however, we can conclude that our project, if successful will bring about
greater satisfaction towards a majority of the beach-goers.
10. On a scale of 1 to 10, how clean do you think
25 the beaches are? (On-site poll)
20
15
% of
10 respondents
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Based on our on-site and online survey, we can tell that the responses from both parties
coincide with each other. Majority of our responses fall within the range of 4 to 7,
suggesting that the cleanliness of our beaches are either moderately clean or
unsatisfactory in the eyes of the public. We drafted this question as we strongly felt
that cleanliness was greatly subjective, with disagreement towards the cleanliness
levels amongst our team members. This probed us to set-up the question to gather the
opinion of the public.
11. What type of rubbish do you think are most
commonly seen in our beaches?
10% 6% 15%
Styrofoam Objects
12% Plastic Bottles/Bags
Can Drinks
30%
11% Disposable Cutlery
16% Leftover Food
Overfilled Bins
Newspapers
From this question, plastic materials (inclusive of disposable cutlery) have proven to be
the most commonly seen rubbish at East Coast Beach. This is a worrying fact. Plastics
are not biodegradable and therefore they will continue to pose a threat to marine life as
long as they remain in our waters. Also, according to our research, turtles view plastic
bags as jellyfish, a primary food source. This will cause them to be asphyxiated and
eventually die of suffocation.
Another worrying statistic of our pie chart is that Styrofoam, otherwise known as
expanded polystyrene, is the third most commonly seen rubbish at East Coast Beach,
ranking in at 15%. Like plastics, the reason for our concern is that it is not
biodegradable.
Through this question, we have obtained valuable yet worrying results. We can infer
that more than half (56%) of the rubbish observed at East Coast Beach is not
biodegradable.
12. According to this question, we can conclude that many people from the public are in full
support of our project as they want us to make a change for a cleaner environment for
their enjoyment.
As seen from the graph, there are very little respondents who think that no measures
should be taken to solve this problem while there are more respondents who chose “10”
which meant that they were fully supportive of us to take measures to solve this problem.
To tie in with the second question on the respondent’s opinion on the cleanliness of the
beach, many of the respondents felt that the beaches were not clean enough and
wanted to us to take action to solve this problem. With such results, we can thus believe
yet again that our project if successful will greatly benefit the public.
13. Before and After situation
Before we implemented any changes to the situation of the beach, the beach was filled
with plastic bottles, bags and all sorts of litter that were prone to be marine litter. We
focused on a specific location, namely, the stretch of beach along the jetty which we
found was the dirtiest part of East Coast Beach after surveying the area.
Initially, the beach was strewn with all sorts of litter ranging from a headless Ultraman
toy to a baby shoe. All these unique forms of litters were insignificant when we observed
the tremendous amounts of litter such as plastic, styrofoam, wrappers and many others.
After even closer inspection, we suspect that the workers at the construction site have
not been exercising good environmental practices by littering their plastic bottles after
drinking. The reason for our suspicion is not entirely baseless. We found that the
section of beach nearer to the construction site was significantly dirtier than the other
parts of the beach and that area was also abundant in plastic bottles and cups. We tried
to think of other reasons for this other than the above mentioned one but to no avail. We
initially thought of whether the public itself could be responsible. However, we thought
that if the public had been responsible, there should not be a difference in the amount of
marine litter near and far from the construction site.
Part of our project included the cleaning up and observation of results. Altogether, we
filled a total of 6 garbage bags with rubbish along the jetty area and it did not make a
significant difference at all.
14. We decided to do more for the project. A week later, we went down yet again to East
Coast Beach to further clean up the beach. To our “pleasant” surprise, the beach was
significantly cleaner than before. The surprise however was short lived. While it may
seemed to have been much cleaner, there was an unfortunate reason behind it. Upon
closer inspection, we saw a clear water mark way above where all the rubbish had been.
This meant that the tide rose and carried the rubbish into the sea, turning our worst
fears into reality. Our inference was confirmed when we saw plastic bottles and bits
floating in the sea. While we weren’t able to prevent this from happening, we decided to
do what we can to further clean up any remaining rubbish on the shoreline and prevent
it from becoming a potential marine hazard.
After cleaning up the beach for some time, we felt that the cleanliness was not
improving. This was due to a lack of resources needed to efficiently clean up. With only
trash bags and using our bare hands, it soon became clear that this was not the solution
if we wanted to make a change. Hence, we paused and thought of ideas. After much
thought, we noticed a styrofoam cup amidst all the rubbish inside our huge trash bag.
As such, we took it out, improvised a little and this what was thought to be an useless
piece of styrofoam turned into the most valuable possession we had.
Using some sharp twigs, we poked holes at the base of the cup. This enabled all the
sand to be filtered out while leaving all the marine debris behind. That way, our
collection of litter immediately speeded up. After two and a half hours of toiling under
the sun, there was a significant change as can be seen from the pictures.
15. Conclusion
After 8 months of preliminary investigation and observation, our Research Education
project has yielded conclusive results. Over the course of this project, we focused
mainly on a specific area at East Coast Beach, namely the area near the jetty. As the
area had high human traffic due to the presence of a construction site and a fishing area,
we found it susceptible to marine pollution. Sure enough, as we went on to observe, we
found that that area was unusually dirty, dirtier than other crowded places such as the
area outside of McDonalds. After closer inspection, we found that the nearer we got to
the construction site, the dirtier the beach was. This led us to come up with a possible
explanation for this trend. Our suspicion – the construction workers had a part to play in
the cleanliness of the beach as elaborated above.
In conjunction with the Design for Change project, our solution was to clean up all of the
rubbish there so as to provide a more favourable environment for the people who
frequent the premise. Besides this main solution, we had decided on putting up posters
around the area, educating the public on the negative impact Marine Litter brings about.
However, due to the many obstacles before us, we were thus unable to carry out this
solution. One example was time constraint.
As the project was nearing an end, with fast approaching deadlines, we had to think of a
solution that yielded immediate results. Putting up of posters would require a long time
to observe changes as our on-site survey had shown that people only visit East Coast
Park an average of once a month. This meant that if we were to observe any change,
we would have to put up the posters and come back a whole month later to observe and
record changes. Till today, our group still strongly believes that putting up the posters
would bring about a bigger change. Putting up posters, as compared to cleaning up the
beaches, would tackle the root of the problem as the whole problem of Marine Pollution
lies within the mindset of the people. “Instead of fishing for someone, we should teach
him how to fish”. This analogy represents what we are trying to carry out. Teaching the
16. public to be environmentally-aware will garner longer term results as our actions of
cleaning up the beaches can easily be forgotten. However, one will not forget important
life knowledge acquired.
After the clean-up, the situation was better than before. However, only time will tell if the
public would appreciate our efforts and stop their selfish actions. In addition, we found
alternative explanations to our findings, some of the rubbish at the jetty were washed
back into the sea. This again proves our point that marine litter is just a vicious cycle.
People litter, it gets washed into the sea, causes environmental disadvantages, gets
washed back ashore, results in an unfavourable environment for us, and it just keeps
happening over and over again. Well, how did we know that the rubbish were washed
back into the sea? We noticed that in the evening, it was the high tide and the water
could actually reach some of the rubbish which were far inland, thus we came out with a
hypothesis that some of the rubbish were washed back into the sea by the high tide
currents. We were eventually right as we witnessed a plastic bottle which was far inland
being carried away by the current back into the sea when it was high tide.
17. Strength, Weaknesses and Recommendations
Our project had several strengths as well as weaknesses. For strengths, our project
was greatly supported by the public as it can be seen from our surveys. 80% of our
respondents want to see changes being implemented and they also want to have a
cleaner beach for everyone. With so many people behind our backs and supporting us,
we found that this was certainly a strength that our project had.
In addition, another strength of our project was its feasibility. Unlike other projects which
focused on installing surveillance cameras opposite HDB blocks to curb the problem of
killer litter, our project did not need us to spend a hefty sum of money or even go to the
extent in asking the authorities for permission. Our solutions were very feasible and
there were very little obstacles blocking our way.
The last strength that we had for this project was that it was a very meaningful one. In
the process of solving the problem of marine litter, we are not only doing our people well,
but also saving marine life. According to our research, millions of marine life including
sea birds, turtles, aquatic plants and many others die from immense littering from a
shore and from boats. After reading so many articles about marine pollution, we thought
that why should these animals and plants suffer for our mistakes? Why do they have to
shoulder the burden when we are the ones at fault?
Finally, the very team that we formed had strengths as well. Being in the same co-
curricular activity, our schedules were very flexible. As CCAs make up a bulk of our
school commitments, being in the same CCAs was a huge advantage when it came to
meeting up for discussions. Quoting Ryunosuke Satoro “Individually, we are a drop.
Together, we are an ocean.” Teamwork itself is an essential pillar to success and this is
something we feel that we possess as a group.
18. No team is ever perfect. With strengths, our group would undoubtedly have some
weaknesses. At the start of the year, we faced some conflicting ideas when it came to
the preliminary drafting of the research topic. We had three main ideas; Making
Healthcare more affordable to Poor People, Effects of Gambling on Society and
Combating Killer Litter.
Making Healthcare more affordable to Poor People – This idea originally looked sound
and feasible and at the same time could impact a big number of people. However, upon
closer analysis, we found that this research topic posed several problems especially at
our level of research. Upon identifying solutions for this problem, we found that one of
the few solutions would be to contact and discuss with the relevant authorities such as
doctors and the Ministry of Health. As such a solution was only possible at higher level
of research; we decided that it was not feasible.
Effects on Gambling on Society - This idea if successful would generally help improve
Singapore’s overall well-being of her citizens. Part of the research process was to give
out surveys to tie in gathered knowledge with the present day situation. From our topic
sentence, it was obvious that our target audience for our survey would be gambling
addicts. Through newspaper articles, we researched on loan shark cases as we
believed this was a factor in problem gambling. Our observation showed that many
targets of loan shark harassment were a result of the victim going to them for loans and
unable to pay them back. The reason for their desperate loan was to fuel their gambling
addiction. As this research topic was associated with such societies, we felt that in the
worst-case scenario, our safety could be jeopardized.
Combating Killer Litter in our Neighbourhood – In order to combat killer litter in
neighbourhoods, we would need a hefty sum of money to install surveillance cameras
across HDB flats to catch anyone who threw litter from their flats. However, due to the
limitations of our financial capabilities unless we had some form of fund-raising which
was time consuming. We could not possibly install one surveillance camera on each
HDB Flat. Also, privacy was an issue for the residents. Thus, we scraped the idea of
19. curbing the problem of killer litter in our neighbourhood. We replaced it in a form of
another scope, marine litter which was also not too broad a topic. This topic retained the
essence of solving a common problem but at the same time, eliminated the possible
problems which could arise such as privacy and funding. Moreover, our ideas to solving
marine litter are feasible, fulfilling all the aspects of a good project.
Another weakness to our project was that owing to the tight deadlines that we had to
meet, we had certain time constraints when it came to conducting the seven day action
week. To make matters worse, one of our teammates contracted conjunctivitis during
the time where we planned to carry out our seven day action week. We lacked
manpower during a few of our visits to East Coast Beach, leading to overall inefficiency.
With only 3 members in the group in total, only 2 of us went to East Coast Beach to start
the clean-up. Under the hot sun while picking up rubbish with only 2 people helping out
was certainly not ideal. We only managed to clear up a portion of the rubbish at the jetty
and it was just inefficient, resulting in a wasted trip. Fortunately, our teammate
recovered fast and came to help us in the next few trips to East Coast Beach, with much
cohesion and team work, we managed to successfully clean up the jetty area which was
once filled with rubbish.
Finally, the last weakness that we had with our project was that some of our survey
results might not be as reliable as the majority. We conducted an on-site survey at East
Coast Beach to help us with our project. However, not all of them were reliable as some
of the survey respondents were not honest and thought that our surveys were just for
fun. Some of their answers were contradictory and they even asked for more surveys
for them to do. We felt that because of these respondents, some of our results might not
be very reliable for research purposes. However, some respondents took our surveys
very seriously; they provided us with valuable answers and thought-provoking questions
which were indeed very helpful to us. In addition, these valuable answers overwhelmed
the untruthful ones and in the end, our results were still very reliable and useful.
20. Limitations
One of the limitations that we faced was the shortage of proper materials when we
conducted our clean-up at East Coast Beach. At first, we faced the problem of lack of
time and we were slow due to the shortage of proper cleaning materials. However, we
used our imagination and creativity and we came up with a prototype which helped us to
collect rubbish more efficiently and disposing them in trash bags. These prototypes are
mainly plastic cups, styrofoam cups and styrofoam containers which could collect larger
amounts of rubbish at one go rather than using our bare hands. Unfortuantely, the cups
collected more sand than rubbish, resulting in our thrash bags being heavy with sand
and not rubbish. Thus, we poked a hole at the bottom of each cup and container,
allowing the sand to flow out through the hole with only rubbish and lesser amounts of
sand collected. This one incident thought us to be resourceful when under difficult
situations. Instead of “fighting fire with fire”, we “fought rubbish with rubbish” and this
also led us to strongly believe that when there is a will, there will be a way.
Another limitation we encountered was the fact that there was not enough points of view
from our articles on marine litter that we collected as we were limited to choosing only
articles which were within 3 years of this year and they had to be local articles.
According to surveys done, the more varieties of different points of views from different
experts all over the world, the more reliable the results would be. This was definitely one
limitation that we faced.
Future Suggestions for Research Projects
We would encourage better preparation of materials before doing any physical work in
case obstacles would get in the way. Also, we advise time management and a plan
before any work or activities are done in order to have a more efficient procedure. Lastly,
research projects in the future should have more samples of surveys to result in more
reliable results.
21. Acknowledgements
At the end of this project, we would like to thank our survey respondents for their honest
and valuable answers that helped us in our research, we would also like to thank the
bicycle rental shops at East Coast Beach for their bicycles which gave us overall
efficiency and speed to get us to our location, the jetty which was very far away from
where we entered. Lastly, we would like to thank our RE teacher mentor, Mrs Ramesh
for her invaluable guidance, support and teaching that has helped us throughout this
whole Design For Change Project.
22. Appendix
Survey Sample
On site -Survey questions
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are students from Raffles Institution and we are seeking your help in completing a
survey that will benefit our Design For Change project greatly.
Kindly circle your answers.
Thank you,
Sean Lim, Ian Liew, Eugene Lee (RI Year 2)
1. On average, how often to you come to the beach?
a) More than once a week
b) Once a week
c) Once a month
d) Once a year
e) Less than once a year
2. Do you think the beaches here are clean enough(clear waters, over-filled bins,
rubbish on the beach etc.)?
a) Yes
b) No
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how clean do you think the beaches are?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Dirtiest Cleanest
State your reason for the above choice,
_________________________________________________
4. What type of rubbish do you think are most commonly seen in our beaches?
a) Styrofoam objects
b) Plastic bottles/bags
c) Can drinks
d) Disposable cutlery
e) Leftover food
f) Overfilled bins
g) Newspapers
h) Others, please specify: _____________
23. 5. To what extent do you think that measures should be taken to solve this problem?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Strongly Strongly
disagree agree
24. Review of Literature-Marine litter articles
Singapore coastline getting dirtier
More than 9,750kg of trash cleared during cleanup in September
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 16 Dec 08;
DESPITE public anti-littering campaigns and annual cleanups involving thousands of
people, Singapore's coasts are dirtier than they were five years ago, according to new
data.
Over 9,755kg of waste, from plastic bags to refrigerators, was fished off beaches and
mangroves during a mammoth cleanup in September, almost 400kg more than in 2007.
The cleanup was organised by International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) and
was part of a worldwide drive.
Locally, over 2,500 people - from schoolchildren to business executives and civil
servants - took part in the event, fanning out to coastal areas from Changi to Jurong.
The results of the cleanup were recently computed by the entirely volunteer-run ICCS.
Lead coordinator N. Sivasothi said he was not surprised by the volume of trash
collected.
He described the cleanup as a stopgap measure, saying the only way to cut down on
beach-front trash is to encourage conservation.
'If we use less, that will mean fewer things we need to dispose of. Proper disposal is
important so that trash doesn't end up in drains which wash into the sea,' he said.
This year, about 2,530 volunteers participated in the Sept 20 cleanup, down from 2,860
last year. Organisers said the numbers were higher when volunteers who worked on
other days of the year were included.
The results of the cleanup show trash trends have varied little over the few years, said
Mr Sivasothi.
'It would take an enormous shift in behaviour to change the kind of rubbish we find. I'd
be surprised if there was a significant change,' he said.
Plastic bags, straws and styrofoam have been a constant on shorelines here and
abroad for years. Larger items, such as refrigerators and tyres, have also been found,
according to organisers.
While the September cleanup shows littering habits remain a problem, volunteers are
25. undeterred.
Kranji Mangrove volunteer Cheong Wei Siong, 20, said he has seen the shoreline
become progressively cleaner over the years.
'I always feel good visiting the mangroves because they are much cleaner, and I played
an important role in it,' he said.
Mr Yasim Abidin, a volunteer who has cleaned the shores for 10 years, said he is not
discouraged by the consistently high garbage load.
Every year, the 29-year-old gets 80 children to pair up with Nanyang Polytechnic
students to help clean the shoreline. 'It's our small contribution to Singapore and
hopefully the children will take the message home and into their future,' he said.
http://sgblogs.com/entry/255972
Not Only Fish Swim in Our Oceans
September 17, 2009 by Kelly Wu
The Problem of Coastal and Marine Debris
Not only fish swim in our oceans – an assortment of marine debris is surfing the waves
too. Improperly disposed trash from the shore or from shipping vessels can get washed
into the waterways. They also accumulate along the coastline after being washed up by
the tides, on beaches, in inter-tidal lagoons and in mangroves. This litter if left
uncollected can lead to several undesirable effects to mankind, including the
contamination of beaches and harbors, damaging fishing vessels and affecting the
aesthetics of the coastal environment. They also affect wildlife which may ingest
inedible materials, get entangled in the trash or have their habitats altered by alien
objects.
Marine debris is a big problem that does not respect sovereignty and country borders.
Meaning where it ends up may not be anywhere near its source. Southeast Asia is also
not spared from this problem. A survey at different locations along Ambon Bay, Eastern
Indonesia, in 1994/5 reported mean densities of debris up to 8.6 items per square meter
(Uneputty & Evans, 1997). Singapore faces its share of marine debris too. In the 2008
International Coastal Cleanup in Singapore, 9,754.9kg of trash was collected by
volunteers in a single event that lasts just one morning!
What are the most common items in the marine debris? In 2008, the top three items of
trash found in the International Coastal Cleanup data collection effort after the
worldwide tally are cigarette butts, plastic bags and food containers / wrappers. Looking
back for the source, it’s not hard to tell that these items would largely come from human
activities on the shore. So don’t just blame the big ocean carriers for coastal pollution!
26. Shoreline activities of beachgoers or just about anyone can result in the debris problem
if the trash is improperly disposed of and finds its way into the waterways.
Personally, what I feel is the most problematic trash of them all? PLASTIC. And it
deserves to be written in capital letters and bold. In a recent expedition to the “Great
Pacific Garbage Patch” (a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean),
scientists brought back piles of plastic debris they pulled out. Indeed, plastic is a
persistent and growing problem in the oceans that is worrying scientists. The plastic can
break down in oceans and release contaminants (see article here). They can also be
ingested by unsuspecting marine creatures that can get killed as a result.
Yet, all is not lost! Locally, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore has continued
to be a good avenue over the years to raise awareness on the problem of marine litter.
NGOs such as Waterways Watch Society in Singapore have also been active in getting
people involved in beach patrols, cleanup efforts etc. Internationally, it is probably
worthwhile to mention that the United Nations Environmental Programme actually has
an initiative to tackle the problem of marine litter under the Regional Seas Coordinating
Office and the Global Programme of Action. And finally, what can you do as an
individual? Join a cleanup effort or at the very least, do not improperly dispose of your
trash into rivers, seas and oceans, please!
http://www.greenkampong.com/green_reporter/not-only-fish-swim-in-our-oceans/
Thu 24 Jul 2008
Horseshoe crabs rescued from a ghost net in Mandai mangrove
Horseshoe crabs have been around for at least 445 million years, predating the dinosaurs and
they are facing their greatest challenges during theAnthropocene - habitat loss, pollution, over-
fishing and ghost net entanglement. The latter arises when fishermen abandon or lose their
strong mono-filament gill nets; these do not degrade but will instead repeatedly entangle all
sorts of animals in mangroves, rocky shore, coral reefs, sea grass and sandy shores.
This is happening in Singapore too. Like my fellow naturalists and field biologists, I have had
to rescue horseshoe crabs, forceps crabs, birds and even snakes over the past two decades.
Habitatnews has highlighted just a couple of these rescues (e. g. Lazarus Island, 2004; Mandai,
2005) and the Nature Society (Singapore) has a regular rescue team that works the Mandai
mudflats. These days it seems almost every low tide trip to a mangrove reveals ghost nets - e.g.
shooting for Once Upon a Tree 2, a shore visit suring the last Pedal Ubin and the recent Lim
Chu Kangmangrove cleanup as well.
Mandai mudflats and mangroves have such a high incidence of ghost nets that I pack a scissors
and factor in time for gill net removal each time before I set out - film shoot, education trip or
work trip. Unfortunately, today was no different - NUS biology honours student Theresa Su,
Raffles Museum Toddycat Teo Kah Ming and myself carefully released about 20 mangrove
horseshoe crabs that were still living. Kah Ming had counted 87 carapaces entangled and
adacent to the net so most had died some time ago.
27. We checked each individual to be sure and carefully removed the nylon filaments that had
weaved between and around their limbs. The chelicerates (horseshoe crabs are not crabs) were
not feisty but happily not too limp - so they were recent entanglements but probably not last
night's. Once freed, we left them clustered in various tide pools nearby with some hope that they
would survive. The net was cut into three lengths and carried out in a bag made from a large-
mesh ghost net lying nearby.
There are still nets out there, I know, and with research trips increasing, hopefully it will come to
a time when my scissors can stay in the bag!
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg//index.php?phrase=coastalcleanup&submit=Search+Habitatnews
29. Site map | NSS Home Page
Official Magazine of the Nature Society (Singapore)
Battling the Curse of Marine Litter
International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
The Curse of Marine Litter | Situation in Singapore mangroves | What the data tells us | Want to help?
What the data begins to tell us
Along with the 77 participating countries, we submitted country reports to the Ocean
Conservancy, USA, a marine conservation group. With international data sets
stretching back 14 years, they are able to make representation to the United Nations
about the global problem, and to push for laws and enforcement against dumping
trash in the ocean. In Singapore, the mangrove clean-up is a much smaller operation
(400 versus more than 1,000 on beaches). It reflects the safety limit imposed on the
tougher terrain and also, it is an attempt to protect the forest from our impact - better
a gradual process to remove decades of litter, than a fast destructive approach. Even
so, in just 90 minutes, some three tonnes of debris were removed, of which over 90%
was plastic and foam plastic.
Quantity from Quantity from
Item Total
Mangrove Beaches
Cigarette butts 15 8,903 8,918
Pieces (foam plastic) 1,958 6,602 8,560
Bags, food bags/wrappers 4,251 3,831 8,082
Straws 2,637 5,299 7,936
Pieces (plastic) 1,483 6,387 7,870
Bottles, beverages, soda 1,170 4,483 5,653
Most numerous items collected during the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore 2001, by approximately 1200
participants in an average of less than two hours
30. The beach cleanup exercise is an older programme and
many participating schools run their sites independently,
submitting data to the coordinator at the end of the
exercise. These shorelines are cleaned regularly, most of
them daily.
So the data from beaches provide an indication of how
much litter might be generated daily. More than 54,000
items of litter weighing more than 700kg were collected
from less than 25% of our shoreline in a single day in
2001. Preliminary and conservative estimates pose a
question: are almost eight million pieces of marine trash
weighing more than 1,000 tonnes washing up on our
shores each year?!
Figures like these would provide a better reflection of the
problem in our country. Thus locally, we are building the
data set up to better predict the estimated load in
mangroves and provide reasonably accurate figures about
annual recruitment on the seashores of Singapore. Besides
providing data as feedback to government, the information
will provide a resource to laymen, students and
organisations to stimulate efforts that will lead to
individual and societal change.
Are we really the source of the problem?
But isn't the problem coming from the sea? Interestingly,
the combined data suggests that for Singapore, more than
60% of this trash is coming from shoreline activities.
Hence it will ultimately require the participation of the
average Singaporean and begin with personal initiatives.
But why personal practices? Well, take a look at the top
six items collected in 2001 - in less than two hours, mind
you.
Topping the list again are cigarette butts, the top ranked item throughout the history
of cleanup. Cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world according
to CigaretteLitter.Org. Since cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate and not
cotton, they can take decades to degrade. Their high numbers on beaches and low
numbers in mangroves point to shoreline activities as the source of these items.
31. As for hardy plastic straws, another regular feature in cleanup data, George Jacobs,
one of our regulars, fails to understand why we still use straws to drink, after the age
of four.
The data from bags and plastic pieces add to the
compelling argument offered by saturated land fill
areas on mainland Singapore - the fact that the only
landfill we have is at Pulau Semakau, one of our
southern islands, designed to last until 2030. Issues
like reducing waste in packaging, or more simply,
the use of plastic bags at supermarkets remain
pertinent. Apparently, more than one million
plastic bags are handed out each day in Singapore. Yet supermarkets are reluctant to
impose a charge for plastic bags. Although these would save major supermarkets a
few million dollars a year, the cost of irate customers is apparently not worth the
effort. Hence efforts by the Singapore Environment Council received lukewarm
response earlier this year (Kaur, 2002).
Perhaps, significant change will only be achieved when the situation becomes more
serious. Both Asian and Western countries are taking action. In Ireland you pay for
plastic bags, and the UK is examining this approach. Bangladesh has banned
polythene bags for jute, boosting their ailing jute mill industry (Chazan, 2002). In
Taiwan, mainly government establishments are banned from offering free plastic
bags and eating utensils, and a campaign is dissuading people from using plastic bags
and disposable plastic utensils (Chiu, 2002).
Obviously, significant effort still needs to be invested in educating the public. It is
not a short haul job, as our own Ministry of the Environment can tell us. We must
continue in our efforts in various ways, and remain hopeful that one day, the
combined efforts of all, locally and internationally, will reduce the problem of trash
to such an extent, that the International Coastal Cleanup effort becomes a vague but
pleasant memory.
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a103c.htm
32. Marine debris: Killer litter
updated Dec 09
Why is there so much litter on the shore? Where does all this
litter comes from? When we DON'T throw litter into a proper bin, it
falls to the ground, goes into the drain, flushes into the canal, then
into the sea. Most of the litter on our shores comes from landbased
activities in Singapore and not necessarily from ships or boats or
other countries.
Why is the litter arranged in a line on the shore? Litter that
floats comes in with the tide and is deposited on the high water
mark. There is usually so much litter in the water, especially near
shores frequented by people, that every tide brings in a new load
of trash. Heavier trash that does not float were probably dumped
on the shore or nearby.
Killer Litter! Litter in the sea isn't just unsightly. Litter kills marine
life.
Of all the litter in the ocean, plastic litter is the most lethal.
And plastic makes up nearly 90% of marine litter.
Small animals are smothered in plastic bags.
Sea turtles often eat floating plastic bags, mistaking them
for jellyfishes which are among their food. Sea birds and
even whales die from eating plastic bags.
Abandoned fishing nets kill by trapping animals. Marine
animals that get entangled die a slow death. Air-breathing
animals such as dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles drown
if they are trapped in nets. Sea birds that fish in the ocean
may also get entangled and die.
Plastics don't biodegrade. But they do break up into
smaller and smaller pieces. These tiny pieces are
eventually eaten by small sea creatures and thus enter the
food chain including our seafood.
Plastic everywhere: Plastic floats. In the ocean currents, plastic Pasir Ris Park, Jan 10
trash literally travels the world.
Plastics forever: Plastic litter lasts, and lasts, and lasts...
"So ubiquitous and inexpensive are plastics that we’ve become a
single-use, throwaway society. Synthetic plastics do not
biodegrade. At best, they break and break again into smaller and
smaller pieces. The fact remains that, save those incinerated,
every single molecule of synthetic plastic ever created is still on
this planet and probably will be for centuries".
from Breaking the cycle of plastics in the ocean by Andrew
Myers Ocean Conservancy Magazine Autumn 2007
How much plastic is in the ocean?
"Findings by Dr Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth
estimate there are 300,000 items of plastic per sq km of sea
Berlayar Creek next to
surface, and 100,000 per sq km of seabed. So plastic appears to Keppel Golf Club, Mar 09
be everywhere in our seas."
33. from Plastics 'poisoning world's seas' By Maggie Ayre
Producer BBC 7 Dec 06
Aren't Singapore's beaches clean?
"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 (from International Coastal
Cleanup Singapore) 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." fromThe coast is not clear by Shobana Kesava Straits
Times 20 Sep 07
Kusu Island, Jul 04
You CAN make a difference
Throw all your rubbish in a proper bin.
Try to reduce the use of these things that you only use
once or eventually throw away: plastics, styrofoam, plastic
bags.
Don't use balloons at parties, especially avoid helium
balloons and release of such balloons, particularly near the
shores.
Clean up carefully when having an event near the shores.
Join International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. It's NOT
just about removing rubbish. It is about collecting data
about marine debris. The data is compiled worldwide and
used to raise awareness and encourage change in
consumer habits and government policy. Changi, Oct 07
Our main beaches APPEAR clean only because of the armies of cleaners. A beach that is not regularly cleaned.
Daily beach cleaning at East Coast Park, Apr 08 Tanah Merah, Oct 09
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/concepts/litter.htm
34. Singapore and marine litter: Coastal Cleanup Sep 09
The amount of trash on Singapore's shores can be heart-breaking. Once a year, valiant volunteers
mount a blitz on marine litter.
Is there any point to cleaning up the shores just once a year?
The effort is not just to gather trash, but data on the trash. The operation is done professionally.
Months before the date, there are countless runs of briefings to explain (a) Singapore has marvellous
marine life (b) WHY litter is bad for marine life and humans.
The data reveals clearly the sources of litter (us) and it doesn't take much to join the dots on what we
can do as individuals.
After seeing the data, I personally never use a straw anymore. I say, a human above the age of 2
doesn't have to suck at drinks. And to use a plastic object for a few minutes and then throw it away is
just wrong.
The lasting change hopefully takes place through the thousands of ordinary people that take part in
the effort. A change in their attitudes, which they in turn can share with those around them.
How bad is the situation?
Here's the data for the effort in 2008 which involved 2,500 volunteers, covering 16km of coastline,
collecting 9 tonnes of trash comprising 130,000 items. Data on the items are meticulously recorded.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Vxu_tx5NynY/Soptqaad0AI/AAAAAAAAaO4/dTJ7VhpgLRE/s1600
-h/ICCS2008.GIF
Where does all the trash come from? The source of the trash is also recorded.
Data from 2008 reveals 50% of the trash is a result of "Shoreline and Recreational Activities", 6.5%
35. from "Ocean/Waterway Activities", 15% from "Smoking-Related Activities" with 26.5% categorised as
"Debris of Local Concern".
This is a typical scene on East Coast Park. This was taken at sunrise. Obviously, someone had
breakfast and just walked away. There was a rubbish bin about 10 paces away.
Is it any wonder then that data for 2008 shows that for "Shoreline and Recreational Activities" the
main types of debris were Plastic bags (18%), Food Wrappers/Containers (10%), Straws, Stirrers
(7%), Plastic Beverage Bottles under 2 litres (4%), Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons (2%), Caps,
Lids (3%).
The Cleanup in Singapore is part of International Coastal Cleanuprun by the Ocean Conservancy. It is
the world’s largest volunteer event of its kind. Last year, nearly 400,000 volunteers collected more
than 6.8 million pounds of trash in 104 countries and recorded every piece of trash collected.
Killer Litter! Discarded drift nets kill countless marine creatures constantly. Called ghost nets, these
cause unnecessary painful deaths for our marine life.
Plastic litter is particularly insidious as these last for a long time, choking and killing marine life that
accidentally eat them. Plastic litter breakdown into smaller and smaller pieces and they end up in the
food chain and thus eventually, in humans.
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/08/singapore-and-marine-litter-coastal.html
36. This is a poster designed by students to show how marine litter is a rising problem in
Singapore.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/habitatnews/97923377/sizes/o/in/set-72057594063083810/
Sources and Effects of Marine Pollution
Type Primary Source/Cause Effect
37. Nutrients Runoff approximately 50% sewage, Feed algal blooms in coastal waters.
50% from forestry, farming, and Decomposing algae depletes water of
other land use. Also airborne oxygen, killing other marine life. Can
nitrogen oxides from power plants, spur algal blooms (red tides), releasing
cars etc. toxins that can kill fish and poison
people.
Sediments Erosion from mining, forestry, Cloud water; impede photosynthesis
farming, and other land-use; coastal below surface waters. Clog gills of
dredging and mining fish. Smother and bury coastal
ecosystems. Carry toxins and excess
nutrients.
Pathogens Sewage, livestock. Contaminate coastal swiming areas
and seafood, spreading cholera,
typhoid and other diseases.
Alien Species Several thousand per day Outcompete native species and reduce
transported in ballast water; also biological diversity. Introduce new
spread through canals linking marine diceases. Associated with
bodies of water and fishery increased incidence of red tides and
enhancement projects. other algal blooms. Problem in major
ports.
Persistent Industrial discharge; wastewater poison or cause disease in coastal
Toxins (PCBs, discharge from cities; pesticides marine life, especially near major
Heavy metals, from farms, forests, home use etc.; cities or industry. Contaminate
seepage from landfills. seafood. Fat-soluble toxins that bio-
DDT etc.)
accumulate in predators can cause
disease and reproductive failure.
Oil 46% from cars, heavy machinery, Low level contamination can kill
industry, other land-based sources; larvae and cause disease in marine life.
32% from oil tanker operations and Oil slicks kill marine life, especially in
other shipping; 13% from accidents coastal habitats. Tar balls from
at sea; also offshore oil drilling and coagulated oil litter beaches and
natural seepage. coastal habitat. Oil pollution is down
60% from 1981.
Plastics Fishing nets; cargo and cruise ships; Discard fishing gear continues to catch
beach litter; wastes from plastics fish. Other plastic debris entangles
industry and landfills. marine life or is mistaken for food.
Plastics litter beaches and coasts and
may persist for 200 to 400 years.
Radioactive Discarded nuclear submarine and Hot spots of radio activity. Can enter
substances military waste; atmospheric fallout; food chain and cause disease in marine
also industrial wastes. life. Concentrate in top predators and
38. shellfish, which are eaten by people.
Thermal Cooling water from power plants Kill off corals and other temperature
and industrial sites sensitive sedentary species. Displace
other marine life.
Noise Supertankers, other large vessels Can be heard thousands of kilometers
and machinery away under water. May stress and
disrupt marine life.
Source: Compiled by WorldWatch Institute.
http://www.gdrc.org/oceans/marine-pollution.html
