Armed with tongs and recycled fertiliser bags a small team of dedicated community members spent Clean Up Australia Day collecting rubbish in McCoys Creek to help make big difference.
Clean Up Australia Branyan organiser Maureen Schmitt said the group of five collected the smallest scraps right up to large pieces of junk, and last year they even found about 20 car tires dumped along the creek line.
“We find a lot of takeaway containers, which is sad to see, along with quite a few cigarette butts,” she said.
“Cigarette butts are small, but they are so bad if they reach the ocean as dolphins can swallow them and the cigarette filter swells up in their guts and they think they are full and end up starving themselves to death.”
The group have been collecting rubbish in the McCoys Creek area for four years, and Maureen said even just a few hours each Clean Up Australia Day was a helpful reminder to the community to think about how they disposed of their rubbish.
“People will drive passt and see us out here cleaning up,” she said.
“Some will give us a wave or a thumbs up – and that’s really nice to see, but I wish they would get out and help.
“We all have a responsibility to keep the environment clean.”
Clean Up Australia Day Branyan member Jim Buttling said the small team enjoyed doing something positive together to give back to the local area.
“I am actually pretty appalled by the amount of rubbish people throw out of their cars,” Jim said.
“We even pick up a lot of cans and bottles too; people pretty much throw away anything.
“It is nice to be out here, even for just one day of the year to clean it all up a little.”
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