This Sunday Coffs Harbourside markets will be transformed into a beach cleaning haven thanks to the trash trading action that will take place.

Seaside Scavenge turns litter into a currency that is used to purchase pre-loved clothes and goods that have been pre-donated by the wider Coffs community.

From 8am-2pm the clean-up will take place and participants will be rewarded for every 10 pieces they collect with a token used as the currency in the pop-up seaside market.

Coffs City Shire Council as well as many local businesses such as Blue Bottle Brasserie, Café Treeo, Palate and Ply and more have donated prizes for participants that collect the most litter, most butts, most straws and who ‘scavenges’ the furthest.

There are 8-13 million tonnes of rubbish dumped annually into the ocean. 

Seaside Scavenge is an innovative and creative way to draw an unconverted audiences attention to litter.

There will be a number of speakers, musicians and upcycling workshops throughout the day promoting plastic-free lifestyle alternatives and marine debris pollution awareness.

“We want to open peoples eyes to waterway pollution and offer an outlet to tackle the problem together. More importantly, we want to demonstrate how to easily cut-back on consumption; single-use plastic and fashion,” Founder and Director, Anna Jane Linke said.

In Australia, 1 billion coffee cups end up in landfill every year. Seaside Scavenge offers local businesses the opportunity to take the Plastic-Free Pledge for the day which commits them to avoiding single-use items like straws, cups, food containers, bottles and plastic bag.

For participants to earn their litter currency they must separate and sort the litter collected into recyclables and non-recyclables. Then it must be recorded so that the data can contribute to the Australia Marine Debris Database managed by Tangaroa Blue.

Seaside Scavenge is taking place as part of a wider litter and waste education program called Travelling Trash Troupe. This is a collaborative project between Plastic Pollutions Solutions and Boomerang Bags, who will also be present at the event to talk to participants and host No-Sew Bag workshops.

Seaside Scavenge has grown from a community initiative at Coogee Beach, Sydney to gain Not-Profit status. Since March 2015, twenty successful events have taken place between Mornington Peninsula and Magnetic Island attracting over 1,500 people to collect over 2,400kg of litter, over 50,000 cigarette butts and donate over 2,350kg of second-hand goods.