Shocking footage of rubbish washed up on the coastline of one of Australia’s pristine beaches has emerged.
Yirrkala Beach in the Northern Territory was filmed covered in plastic bags, bottles and debris on Sunday afternoon.
The rubbish washed up in waves from Indonesia due to south-east winds.
Cameron Hines from South Brisbane Storm Chasers posted the disturbing footage to Facebook, hoping to raise awareness for the environmental issue.
Shocking footage of plastic debris washed up on a Northern Territory beach has emerged
An eski is amongst plastic bags, bottles and scraps that have washed up on the shoreline
Single-use plastic bags, the topic of a lot of controversy, are among the list of rubbish blanketing the sand and rocks.
An eski ice box, shampoo bottles, hairbrushes, drink bottles, sports equipment, cigarette lighters and netting were among the items lining the popular beach.
Hines works with 11 rangers to clean up the beaches, but says that the footage on Facebook is only one small area affected.
‘It’s just an ongoing thing, we don’t have the resources to clean it up all the time,’ he says.
The rubbish was brought in from Indonesia onto the western coast of the Northern Territory.
Hines says that Indonesia’s monsoon season brings in huge amounts of debris, but during Australia’s winter, the winds sweep it towards the western coast.
Storm chaser Cameron Hines says that the rubbish is a result of Indonesian monsoon season
Yirrkala beach (pictured) is known for its pristine sand and rocks, and is frequented by locals
The area shown in the footage is only one small patch affected by the waste, but was particularly highlighted by Hines because it is accessible to the public.
A lot of the beaches need to be traversed through dirt paths or Aboriginal land, but Yirrkala, being so close to the mining town of Nhulunbuy means that more people frequent the beach.
Beaches all across Cape Arnhem have been subject to debris, with a 42-resident-strong clean-up effort taking on more than 1600 kilograms of rubbish along a 1.5 kilometre stretch of beach in July.
Bottles with Vietnamese writing (pictured) were washed up by the south-eastern winds
A consistent clean-up effort has to be undertaken by the 11 rangers in the area, says Hines