This summer holiday while you are enjoying the surf, sun and sand, take a moment and Take 3 for the Sea.

Take 3 for the Sea is a clean beach initiative and its message is simple: take three pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach, waterway or anywhere really, and you will make a lasting difference to the environment.

If we all do a little bit, together we can make a BIG difference.

Take 3 for the Sea was founded by a small group of motivated volunteers, including Tim Silverwood and Roberta Dixon-Valka, after seeing first-hand large amounts of plastic and garbage in our oceans and waterways.

”Anyone can do it (picking up just three pieces of rubbish), and it doesn’t require money or much time.” Ms Dixon-Valka said talking about Take 3 for the Sea, in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald. Watch co-founder Tim Silverwood on Sunrise talking about Take 3 for the Sea.

Do you know what a gyre is? A gyre is a man-made collection of floating garbage, a plastic garbage vortex where oceanic currents meet.  There are FIVE significant gyres in the world (so far) all made up of big tangles of human waste:

• Great North Pacific or Eastern Garbage Patch
• South Pacific Gyre
• North Atlantic or Sargasso Sea Gyre
• South Atlantic Gyre
• Indian ocean Gyre

The Great North Pacific Patch is estimated to be the size of France.  Read more about gyres here and here.

Marine debris, particularly plastic, has a disastrous impact on marine life and, ultimately, us.  Plastic bottles break down into tiny pieces, forming plastic sand.  It is often ingested by marine life, often killing the host and entering our own food chain.

The world’s culture of short-term convenience of using and throwing away plastic products carries a very inconvenient long-term truth. Plastic water bottles, wrapping, containers, cups, utensils, electronics, toys, and gadgets we dispose of daily are rarely recycled in a closed loop. We currently recycle only 5% of the plastics we produce. What happens to the rest of it? Roughly 50% is buried in landfills, some is remade into durable goods, and much of it remains “unaccounted for”, lost in the environment where it ultimately washes out to sea. (5gyres.org)

We can greatly reduce the amount of marine debris in our oceans by preventing it from getting there in the first place. ‘Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle’ and Respond by picking up other people’s rubbish. Don’t buy bottled water (take your own reuseable bottle), refuse plastic bags at the shops AND take just 3 items of rubbish off the beach on your next visit.

Keep our beaches beautiful and Take 3 for the Sea – visit the initiative on facebook, twitter or their website here.