Container pollution could last 20 years

That was the news Tea Gardens and Hawks Next residents were delivered at a community meeting held on Thursday, June 14.

Hosted by Roads and Maritime Services, more than 100 people packed the Tea Gardens Baptist Church hall to learn about the disaster and what to expect into the future.

Since the May 31 disaster there have been reports of yoga mats floating north to Coffs Harbour, while plastic continues to float ashore onto local and Newcastle beaches.

While two containers have burst open, the location of the remaining 81 containers remains unknown.

Roads and Maritime Services executive director maritime, Angus Mitchell reassured the debris was no longer a safety threat for marine vessels, but urged residents not to continue cleaning the beaches.

While the authorities were grateful for the clean-up efforts from residents, he explained every item recovered from the waterways would be logged and ticked-off from the shipping manifest.

“Divers have also discovered a large quantity of light plastic material in the water column near Fingal Bay and are removing as much as possible from the water,” Mr Mitchell said.

Tea Gardens resident, Gordon Grainger said the meeting was well conducted, informative and transparent.

“The information was fairly good and current and on the ball,” Mr Grainger said.