Killer litter

'Line' of rubbish usually gathers at the back mangroves or on shores. This is the high water mark.

Thoughtful question: Let's see how many different kinds of rubbish we can see?

Where do you think this litter comes from?

When we DON'T throw litter into the bin, it falls to the floor, goes into the drain, flushes into the canal, then into the sea. Make sure all your litter goes into a proper dustbin.

Litter kills!

Strings and ropes: trap animals that die when the tide goes in or out. Fishes without water, dugongs drown in water.

Plastic bags: turtles mistake them for their favourite jellyfish food. Turtles will die if they swallow a plastic bag. Similarly for balloons, like the ones released during celebrations.

Plastic and styrofoam don't biodegrade. They stay in the ocean for a long long time, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. These are eaten by small animals and enter the food chain including our seafood.

For an article about the global impact of plastic in the ocean
Altered oceans: A plague of plastic chokes the seas
By Kenneth R. Weiss Los Angeles Times 2 Aug 06
or text version on wildsingapore

Links to more articles about marine litter on wildsingapore

You CAN make a difference

• Throw all your rubbish in the dustbin.
• Try to reduce the use of these things that you eventualy throw anyway: plastics, styrofoam, plastic bags.
• Join International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. It's NOT just about removing rubbish. It is about collecting data about marine debris. The data is compiled worldwide and used to raise awareness and encourage change in consumer habits and government policy.
  See the ICCS results for 2006 7.5 tons of marine debris was collected from 11km of Singapore's shorelines in just one day.