Torquay pupils clean up local beaches

GRADE five and six pupils from St Therese Primary School rolled up their sleeves and participated in a beach clean-up on Thursday April 4.

Teacher Gerard McCarthy said the school organises clean-ups twice a term at Fishos, an initiative supported by St Therese’s grade six environmental leaders.

On a glorious sunny morning last Thursday, the pupils picked up rubbish near the Torquay Surf Club and along Point Danger.

Cigarette butts were among the biggest culprits (over 3,500 collected) as well as fishing lines, plastics (both hard and soft), glass and bottle caps.

One of the two grade six sustainability leaders Eve Francis said it was great to see so many of her peers cleaning up the coast.

“If we don’t clean up, we are polluting the earth and killing marine animals,” she said.

After collecting the litter, the pupils keep some of the items in glass jars that are stored in the classroom.