Valentine's Day proposal sparks backlash for litter
While Valentines day is the perfect day to celebrate all kinds of love, Manly residents were left fuming in the aftermath of one couple's elaborate proposal.
On Wednesday, residents were forced to pick up "hundreds of plastic petals", used candles and plastic wrapping discarded on Manly beach, which marine experts have branded "very intentional" littering.
One local said that "no attempt was made to pick it up" and they were sure that hundreds of the petals would've already "blown into the sea to float around choking wildlife for the next several hundred years".
"Candles were placed in the sand, so it seems the celebration took place there on the beach as well as above by the footpath," the resident wrote in a Facebook post.
"Plastic petals are cheaper than the real thing, but surely whoever you’re doing this for would prefer fewer real petals to hundreds or thousands of fake ones.
"I usually just pick things up and get on with it but this was all very intentional and I believe it doesn’t actually occur to some people to consider the impact when making decisions like this so I want to say: Think about your long term impact, make choices accordingly and feel better about them."
Conservationists have also slammed the act, and said that the littering would likely result in the death of wildlife.
"These photos are pretty shocking to see, especially knowing that these items were intentionally littered," vice president of Ocean Conservancy’s plastics program, Nicholas Mallos told Yahoo News.
"In sufficient quantities, ingesting plastics like these can absolutely harm birds and sea creatures.
He added flexible plastics and polyester petals can be deadly if it is consumed by smaller animals as it can block their digestive tracts causing them to starve, and disrupts their reproductive behaviours.
"It takes only a few tiny pieces of plastic to kill a sea turtle hatchling, for example," Mallos said.
"There’s no doubt the beach is a spectacular setting for an event, but it does require special attention to protect the surrounding ecosystem," he added.
AMCS Plastics & Packaging Program Manager Tara Jones also agreed, and said there are "far better earth-safe alternatives."
She said that "around 90 per cent of all seabirds alive today have ingested plastic of some kind."
"Juvenile sea turtles, like the ones hatching now along the Queensland coasts, have been known to ingest hundreds of pieces of plastic in their short life.
"Our ocean wildlife deserves better."
Images: Facebook