We collected samples along 200m transects and were amazed yet disappointed that we collected over 512 pieces of plastic debris from the three beaches we visited. The vast majority of pieces were soft plastics, with hard plastics coming in second. No wonder the Albatross at Tairoa are feeding plastics to their chicks. The students did the school proud battling through a wet day to help clean and learn about our local environment. We are repeating the experiment again this year, on 14 March. – Matt Sherborne, teacher, Queen’s High School.