Once a month a group of Gen Zs hits our beaches. It’s less for relaxing – although that happens too – and more for the environment. The group is ‘Cairns Co-Exist’, it’s part of a national movement and it’s led by 25-year-old Sophie Nelson.

“I saw Co-Exist on Instagram and then it kept popping up on my socials,’’ Sophie says.

“I went to my first event in early 2025 and loved it.”

Sophie now organises the monthly beach clean-ups along the coast from Cairns’s northern beaches to the Esplanade, as well as creekside tree-planting events and spotlighting nights at places like Crystal Cascades, Stoney Creek and the Cattana Wetlands.

She says each beach is characterised by different marine debris and land-based rubbish.

“We find a lot of marine rubbish at Ellis Beach – I think it’s to do with the way the tide wraps around the beach. There are more microplastics at Ellis Beach than other beaches, and at Trinity Beach we find a lot of bigger objects like discarded clothes, shoes and bottles. At Machan’s Beach it’s discarded fishing lines along the rock walls.

“At every beach, we’ll find over 100 cigarette butts each time we do a clean-up.”

Marine debris data is uploaded to Co-Exist after each clean-up, and to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative app. At spotlighting events, species are recorded on the iNaturalist app.

Sophie says meeting new people is one of the great things about the group. And knowing you are making a difference.

“Often we are picking up little bits of rubbish, like microplastics. But it all adds up. Plastics are eaten by fish. We eat fish…

“This is a high-value area, right on the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a patch of paradise and it’s struggling enough already. We want to do our bit to keep the environment healthy.

“You meet amazing people, a lot of them backpackers from all over the world. This kind of group can cause a ripple effect, changing what we do with rubbish at home, how we shop…”

Co-Exist started in Cairns in late 2022. So far, 238 people involved and 189 kilograms of rubbish has been removed from Cairns beaches. To find out more, and to join an event, visit www.coexistaus.org

Co-Exist Cairns is one of three Co-Exist collectives that has received a grant from the Queensland Government for marine debris clean-ups. It has also been funded by the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation.