Condoms, razor blades and syringes raise concerns about Auckland beaches

Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Shiny, jagged glass at Browns Bay Beach on Auckland's North Shore is concerning residents with dogs and small children.

Broken glass, condoms, razor blades and syringes are among dangerous litter on Auckland beaches that pose a risk to beach-goers.

Over the past summer alone, charity Sustainable Coastlines collected 31,000 litres of rubbish in 35 Auckland beach clean-ups, including sharp items and hazardous household waste.

Beaches off Renton Road and Ihumatao Road in Māngere stood out to fundraising manager Jodi Pretscherer for their dangerous litter, which included dumped asbestos.

'Lots of people use it as a roadside dumping ground, but lots also comes from the drains.'

A sea of green glass represents a May 22 audit by Sustainable Coastlines.

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An unusual amount of broken glass had concerned residents of Browns Bay who feared a person's feet or a dog's paws would be sliced open.

Four-year-old Leo Jackson Erp wants to see more people picking up rubbish along Auckland's beaches. He has been picking up broken glass from the beach with his dad, Tim Erp, and the family dog, Lola.

The beach has had problems with youth drinkers breaking bottles, smashing windows and urinating along the foreshore, prompting calls from residents for an alcohol ban that finally succeeding late last year. However, broken glass is still causing issues.

'We're finding shiny, jagged glass and lots of it. I would hate for people to cut their feet open,' Browns Bay resident Tim Erp told Stuff.

Tim Erp and his son Leo Jackson have been picking up lots of shiny, jagged glass at Browns Bay Beach and collecting it in a plastic container.

Browns Bay resident Tim Erp and his 4-year-old son Leo Jackson have been picking up shards of broken glass, mostly from beer bottles, from Browns Bay Beach for the past three weeks.

Beachgoer Tim Erp says he would hate to see someone cut their feet open on the glass at Browns Bays Beach, including the paws of pets like his dog, Lola.

For the past three weeks, Erp, along with his son Leo Jackson, 4, had picked numerous pieces of glass off the beach while walking the family dog, Lola.

'I've made a game with Leo out of it. We treat it as a treasure hunt but the reality is we're picking up glass,' Erp said.

Trina Jones also said she had found broken glass when walking her dog, Mobie, along Browns Bay.

'What we've been finding is broken bits of glass and balloons, plastic bags in the sand, and plastic straws.'

In other parts of Auckland, Pretscherer said straws, lollipop sticks, plastic bottle lids and cigarette butts were some of the most common pieces of rubbish found on beaches, even the cleaner ones.

'Takapuna and St Heliers look clean on the surface, but we're constantly finding plastic on the high tide mark.'

Ashwathy Subramanyan, the regional coordinator for charitable trust Our Seas Our Future, said its recent beach clean-ups had targeted popular Auckland beaches Point Chevalier Beach and St Heliers Beach.

'We have found a surprising amount of rubbish from these beaches, although they appear clean on the surface.'