Raffles Museum Toddycats and friends clear 1.5 tonnes of marine debris for ICCS 2013

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore came and went last weekend. It is one of  the longest running environment programme in Singapore helmed and coordinated by a special group within the Raffles Museum Toddycats, the ICCS otters.

On Saturday, as the sun rose in Singapore and across the world, groups of volunteers fanned out along coastlines, picking up and categorising the types of marine trash washed up on our shores.

The Raffles Museum Toddycats, with FMC Technologies, Jurong Secondary School and North Vista Secondary ODAC  tackled a particularly tough site this year, the Kranji East Mangrove.

Access to the site is restricted to a short but steep and eroded slope. This means transporting trash out to the trash disposal point promised a challenge. The garang bunch of Toddycats, friends and our partners rose to meet it! Armed with trash bags, booties and data cards, 148 participants descended onto Kranji East for an intensive 90 minute workout.

Data collected from Kranji East Mangroves are also up, together with all of Singapore.  All photographs of the event are up on Flickr (set 1, set 2, set 3) but here are some highlights.

Toddycats and independents looking bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7 am in the morning, ready to do their bit for the environment.

Trash along the strand line

Pre-cleanup safety briefing by Otterman.

Negotiating the slope

It was a short slope, but quite steep!

Steward bagging trash while Kenny records

Happy faces

Moving bags to the second trash disposal point (TDP)

Meanwhile, the action at the first TDP!

Total haul for TDP2. 68 bags and almost half a ton of trash, not including buily items like the massive tyres, mattress and sofa the indefatigable Toddycats hauled out.

How did the trash make it from our TDPs to the main road for NEA? Airani and her pickup!

Trash from Kranji East Mangrove awaiting proper disposal by NEA

Thanks to all Toddycats and friends who signed up and made this outing a success! We look forward to more challenges for ICCS 2014. Join us then?