On the 15th of July the Mentors and YATZ met again for the second of our workshops post lock down at the picturesque Brighton beach. After a few warm ups and energizers, we met up with the wonderful people of Trash Hero Adelaide – a worldwide organization that has devoted itself to cleaning rivers, lakes and beaches weekly.

The purpose of this workshop was not only to acquaint ourselves with such a prestigious organization, but also to learn from a new group of environmental experts and spread our YATZ impact further. The YATZ, Mentors and Trash Hero Adelaide volunteers walked from the Seacliff end of Brighton beach to the streets. As a collective we foraged for deadly plastics and recyclables, that could be collected before they made their deadly emergence in the ocean.

From a Mentor perspective it was rewarding to see the YATZ mingle with the Trash Hero warriors and also learn more about micro plastics, all whilst cleaning Brighton beach. Our new connection with Trash Hero definitely taught us more about the dangers of plastics to the ecosystem and we can further our recycling footprint at home.

It is more than safe to say that we all learn something from the workshop and that we definitely have a long way to go until the beaches are completely litter free. Until then the YATZ and Trash Hero volunteers will hopefully meet up again to take down our common enemy, trash.