On the 19th of June the Panamuna Crew ventured over to South Stradbroke Island to join in on a marine debris accumulation removal campaign with seniors from Silkwood School. Partnered with Jacobs Well Environmental Education Centre, Gold Coast Catchments and Reef Check, we managed to remove 8,661 pieces of marine debris from the beautiful shores of South Stradbroke Island.

Most of the debris found on the island was plastic remnants from objects that had begun to break down over time. The effects of these micro plastics on the environment are incredibly severe, not only for the land but for wildlife as well. We came across dead birds that had plastic bundled up in a ball where their stomachs once were. One of South Stradbroke Island’s largest marketing campaigns for tourism is their birdwatching, where you can see over 150 different species of birds on the island as stated by ‘SEA Gold Coast’.

The Silkwood Youth Ambassadors led out the group wearing their ‘It’s our turn to change the tide’ t-shirts that were printed by us using all organic cotton and water based inks. The shirts are also ethically traded and produced through carbon neutral manufacturing. They will be available for purchase soon on our website under our T-shirts for a Purpose initiative.

At the end of the day we audited all the debris and sent off the information to Tangaroa Blue. This is to try and tackle the major waste issues we see polluting our oceans and killing wildlife. Tanagaroa Blue track the debris back to where it's produced and then present their findings to the companies producing the waste about where their products are ending up.


Overall it was an awesome day and the Panamuna crew can not wait to continue to work with young environmental warriors such as the Silkwood Youth Ambassadors again in the future.

Writen by Ryan Roberts