Our planet is covered in rubbish. Plastic items can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills. Fortunately, not all people are throwing away their garbage. Tangaroa Blue volunteers spend days trying to clean things up across Australia’s coastlines.

From a vast amount of plastic collected at Back Beach in Mapoon, Queensland to the waters surrounding Flying Fish Cove, the capital of Christmas Island which are strewn with garbage, these photos will impress you.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

The vast amount of plastic collected at Back Beach in Mapoon, Queensland.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Coral growing around a plastic bottle found at Cape Kimberley in Queensland.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Melbourne’s Yarra river is filled with plastic rubbish.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Plastic found at Cape Kimberley in Queensland.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

A beach at Byfield national park in Yeppoon, Queensland, is polluted with garbage.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Plastic wrapped around a branch on the Torres Strait Islands.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Microplastics found washed up at Cape York in Queensland.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

In 2013, Tangaroo Blue volunteers did a ‘clean sweep’ of the 7km Chilli beach and gathered 5.5 tonnes of material.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

Abandoned marine debris found south of the Lockhart river in Cape York, Queensland.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue

The waters surrounding Flying Fish Cove, the capital of Christmas Island, are strewn with garbage.
Photograph: Tangaroa Blue