Tangaroa Blue and the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Campaign in Australia
- Keiran Healy
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
Earlier this year, as the King’s Baton Relay travelled through Australia, from Uluru to Sydney – it stopped off in Townsville, where Tangaroa Blue hosted a major clean-up event at Rowes Bay as part of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Campaign.
Against the backdrop of the Coral Sea, athletes, students, volunteers and local partners joined forces with a shared mission: preventing plastic pollution from entering Commonwealth waters.
For more than 20 years, Tangaroa Blue Foundation has worked to remove and prevent marine debris across Australia through community-led clean-ups, education and research. Their Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) has become one of the country’s leading citizen science programmes, supporting volunteers to collect vital data on the types and sources of litter found along coastlines and waterways.
The Rowes Bay clean-up reflected Tangaroa Blue’s hands-on approach to tackling marine debris. Athletes, local students and volunteers worked together to remove litter from the coastline and contribute to wider efforts to better understand the impact of plastic pollution on marine environments. Volunteers also recorded debris data through the Australian Marine Debris Initiative, helping to support long-term solutions to prevent waste entering waterways and oceans.
This clean up was one of 38 clean-ups Tangaroa Blue coordinated across the month of March, stretching all the way from the Torres Strait down to Bundaberg.
The Australian Team mascot, Borobi, also joined in with the event – with the Australian King’s Baton also present. By combining environmental education with practical action on the ground, the event demonstrated how local initiatives can contribute to a global movement for cleaner oceans.
The Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign continues to unite organisations, athletes and communities across the Commonwealth in protecting waterways and creating lasting environmental change.
Commonwealth Clean Oceans Catch Up Series : Tangaroa Blue
Data-led, community-driven, and turning the tide on marine plastic.
Earlier this year, in the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Catch-Up, Heidi Tait, Co-Founder and CEO of Tangaroa Blue Foundation, joins Keiran Healy to share how the Australian Marine Debris Initiative has tracked and removed over 30 million debris items since 2004, and why prevention matters as much as clean-up.
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
The Royal Commonwealth Society’s Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign will prevent one million pieces of plastic from entering Commonwealth waterways.
The campaign will combine education and local action to encourage people to reduce their plastic waste, highlight alternatives, and reduce pollution across the Commonwealth.
For the action component of the campaign, the Royal Commonwealth Society has partnered with Commonwealth Sport to deliver the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign as a core component of The King’s Baton Relay. This newly envisioned King’s Baton Relay will focus on sustainability and environmentalism and was launched by His Majesty The King at Buckingham Palace on Commonwealth Day 2025, beginning a 500-day journey to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July 2026.
Journeying through every Commonwealth nation and territory, this partnership will bring together young people, athletes, conservation groups, and the local community for a week of activities, including a plastic clean-up.
SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
