Young eco-warriors are leading the way in the war on waste, keeping more than 240 kilometres of fishing line from coastal waterways to protect marine life from entanglement.

Primary school student Shalise Leesfield is gaining attention as an unlikely champion through her hands-on action saving injured wildlife, and her powerful public speaking and advocacy work.

Ms Leesfield from the NSW Mid North Coast has a remarkable list of achievements for a 12 year old.

"My dream is that plastic will become extinct, not our marine animals," she said.

Her initiatives to reduce the damage from fishing line include lobbying her council to have collection bins installed, petitioning to get warnings printed on packaging, and media work ranging from Women's Day through to Ted X talk auditions.

Shalise's achievements thusfar: Received an EPA grant to install fishing line bins

Received an EPA grant to install fishing line bins Awarded a Legislative Assembly Hansard mention in NSW Parliament by her local MP

Awarded a Legislative Assembly Hansard mention in NSW Parliament by her local MP Hosted her own Clean Up Australia Day at Lake Cathie in 2018

Hosted her own Clean Up Australia Day at Lake Cathie in 2018 Has given inspirational talks at schools about plastic pollution

Has given inspirational talks at schools about plastic pollution Was a junior journalist for Wildlife Australia and multiple other articles in national magazines

Was a junior journalist for Wildlife Australia and multiple other articles in national magazines Will be speaking at various festivals and conferences and has a final audition for a youth Ted X talk

"We need young people to hop on board as we're the future generation and we need to make sure we protect the earth because we're going to be here for a long time. We need to start reducing reusing and recycling," she said.

"I've started a petition to put a warning on the back of all fishing line packages sold in Australia about discarding your fishing line correctly and what it does to the environment.

"When I found out how much damage the fishing line and plastics cause, I wanted to be a voice for marine animals."

Her public profile and proactive work has earned her an invitation to an international youth summit in Melbourne where she will be interviewed by the grandson of famous French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

Two fishing line bins were installed at Lake Cathie after Shalise put the case forward to council and won a litter grant to trial the bins. ( ABC Port Macquarie: Wiriya Sati )

School project now helping to save sea life

Fishing line seems to be the biggest bug-bear along the coast, and Shalise is not the only one focussed on addressing this issue.

High school student and budding marine biologist Joshua Carpenter is also making waves in his work to protect the waterways from plastic pollution.

As part of a school project on the Tweed River the 17-year-old invented and installed a series of fishing line recovery bins made from recycled PVC pipes.

Joshua and two other volunteers have emptied the bins since 2016 and have recorded their findings in the Australian Marine Debris Database.

In one year alone, they recorded 24 kilometres of fishing line, 10 kilograms of lead weights, 23 fishing hooks and 44 plastic bags.

"I scuba dive and am also involved in dragon boat racing, so I've seen firsthand the damage discarded fishing lines do to turtles, dolphins and pelicans," he said.

"I'm glad that the recovery bins have stopped that amount of pollution from entering the Tweed River, but I want to expand the program to other areas."

Year 11 student Joshua Carpenter invented his fishing line recovery bins to stop disused lines being thrown into the waterways. ( ABC North Coast News: Donna Harper )

Joshua's project has also drawn interest from the Tweed Shire and Gold Coast councils, and Sea World research and rescue.

The work of these young eco-warriors, particularly promoting fishing line bins, is a small but important step in addressing what Tani Karaka from a Coffs Harbour marine rescue group describes as a growing problem.

Shalise freed a pelican from being tangled in fishing line ( Supplied: Shannon Leesfield )

"Fishing line has a huge impact to our animals as we see a lot of ingestion with mostly seabirds and turtles," Ms Karaka said.

"If we can remove as much as we can form these fishing hot spot areas then we'll start to see a decrease of animals being brought into us with entanglement issues, which was ultimately the dream.

"Public awareness has definitely increased where the bins have been provided around the fishing hot spots. We are still seeing a lot of fishing line in the bins five years on. On average they're getting about 10km a year."

"We are getting a lot more calls about animals that are entangled in fishing line … that can lead to a lot of serious issues. Sometimes you can operate, but the majority of times it can lead to death."

Are fishermen responsible?

While all of these initiatives bring awareness to the issue and are a practical solution to a very big problem, fisherman and tackle shop owner Luke Austin pointed out that attitudes among anglers are where the largest change is needed.

"I think it's not so much about what type of bins they are, but getting people to use the bins. Generally people are pretty blasé about it," Mr Austin said.

Saving seagulls entangled by fishing line has been lessened by the bins' rollout. ( Supplied: Rowley Goonan/Wild Bird Rescue )

"Those who are littering already don't really heed warnings on packaging.

"But for the younger generation, it might be a step in the right direction to prevent it in the future.