This month the team at Channel Mag and Benefitz is getting behind this innovative Sustainable Coastlines initiative to raise awareness about the litter causing harm to the beaches that are so important to our lifestyles on the Shore.

Almost every Kiwi will recognise the iconic fish poster from takeaway shops across the country, but we are expecting some double takes with Sustainable Coastlines’ new version that also is a feature of our cover in this issue.
A collaboration between charity Sustainable Coastlines, creative agency Augusto, and renowned New Zealand wildlife artist Erin Forsyth, Trash Species of Aotearoa New Zealand aims to get people thinking about the types of creatures they really want lurking next to them when they take a dip in the ocean.
The poster (and cover) reveals 21 ‘trash species’ through watercolour illustrations, such as the Quarter Flounder and the Snapperloc Bag, calling out some of the most common litter found on our coastlines. The species are informed by real data collected from our coastlines as part of Litter Intelligence, the national litter monitoring programme run by Sustainable Coastlines.
Sustainable Coastlines’ communications manager, Helen Adams-Blackburn, notes how lucky we are to be surrounded by a diverse and beautiful coastline in New Zealand, saying, “It’s a big part of our culture, and protecting our amazing marine species is important to a lot of us. This campaign helps to highlight the threat of totally unwanted ‘species’ that find their way to our ocean through littering, open bins, and down stormwater drains. It draws the connection between items we might use on a daily basis and the beaches and wildlife we hope to protect.”
“The message is pretty simple: catch your trash before it fills our oceans, whether that’s changing buying habits or making sure something is disposed of properly,” she says.
The individual species, and tips on how to stop them, will be profiled on the Sustainable Coastlines social media accounts during October. There will also be an opportunity for people to submit their own trash species discoveries on the charity’s social media pages — even better if you have a fish pun in mind.
Adam Thompson, executive creative director at Augusto, says, “I think most of us have heard about, and seen, the litter problem in this country, but it wasn’t until we saw the very humbling data that we realised how preventable things were. By showing the visible impact through a much loved piece of Kiwiana, we will hopefully motivate people to change how they treat their trash.”
The original artworks will be on display throughout October at Sustainable Coastlines’ education and events space, before being auctioned off to raise money for the charity. Thanks to Benefitz for support with printing, fans of the soon-to-be iconic poster will also be able to get their hands on one, with details to be announced on Sustainable Coastlines website.

For more information and to keep up to date:- Follow the campaign and share your own trash species on Instagram and Facebook by following @sustainablecoastlines
sustainablecoastlines.org
See the exhibition at The Flagship,
at 55 Madden Street, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland City.
Explore the data that informs the campaign at insights.litterintelligence.org