AUSMAP is organising a Community Science Day!

On 27th February, our Program Director Dr. Michelle Blewitt and Research Director Dr. Scott Wilson will be talking about the microplastics found in Dee Why lagoon.

As part of our microplastic mitigation project in Dee Why, Sydney, we have been monitoring the Dee Why lagoon for microplastics since November 2020.

The AUSMAP team has been gathering data from the debris captured from stormwater drains, with over 300kg of debris collected before it entered the lagoon! Over 6kg was synthetic or human modified items, including > 30,000 microdebris pieces (< 5mm in size)!

We already know that Dee Why is one of Australia's microplastics hotspots, capturing microplastics and other debris such as sediment from development sites, that is going down our drains and straight in the lagoon. Due to this influx of sediment, the lagoon is actually getting smaller in size, having a potential negative effect on the marine life inside the lagoon.

Microplastics are also known to have a negative impact on wildlife and the environment. As they break up into smaller pieces, they have
the potential to travel up the food chain, causing even more damage.

What can you expect?

Join our Community Science day to find out how much microplastic is
entering into the lagoon and ocean at Dee Why.

The AUSMAP Team will be giving you an unforgettable experience in finding out for yourself what type of debris and microplastics can be found in your local area!

Whether you live in Dee Why, one of the other Northern Beaches, or elsewhere in Sydney or surrounds, this is an event you're not going to want to miss!

Join us!

The AUSMAP team will be hosting two sessions & talks on 27th February 2021.

Session 1: 9am - 12pm

Session 2: 1pm - 4pm

Sign up for a time that is convenient for you - drop by for a short time or a long - help with sorting and identification of the types of macro and micro debris found in our stormwater drains and join in discussions about effective solutions!

Suitable for all ages!

About AUSMAP

It’s hard to solve a problem you can’t see. Until recently, microplastic pollution presented scientists with a crisis that was invisible to the naked eye. Now we have AUSMAP.

By translating data into vivid maps of plastic pollution hotspots all over Australia, the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP) makes it easy for everyone to see the scale & nature of this growing problem.

We need to know how much is out there, before we figure out what to do with it. And we need large numbers of Australians to engage with behaviour change so we can stop any more plastic entering our waterways & design effective mitigation strategies.

That’s why we need you in our AUSMAP collaborative citizen science project!

This event is proudly supported by Northern Beaches Council, Macquarie University, Surfrider Foundation and NSW EPA.