Plastic patrol: the citizen scientists tackling litter in Australian waterways

At beaches, rivers and dive sites around the country, citizen scientists are tackling the growing problem of plastic pollution. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

Neil Blake weighs a paper bag of fake grass fragments he has collected from a stormwater gutter near Darebin Creek in Melbourne’s north.

Over the past three years Blake has conducted 56 collections of synthetic turf in the waterway alongside the KP Hardiman Reserve hockey pitch.