Melbourne Water's Litter and Waterwatch Coordinator Naomi Dart, citizen scientist and Bentleigh West Primary School student Sophie Littlefair and RMIT's Dr Kavitha Chinathamby launching GPS-tracked bottles into Dandenong Creek.
In a Victorian-first citizen science project, GPS-tracked bottles will be released in suburban waterways around Melbourne to reveal precisely how litter makes its way from our streets to our beaches.
A staggering 95% of the litter on Port Phillip Bay beaches comes from suburban streets, with about 350,000 cigarette butts washing into the bay every year.
The Litter Trackers project will see RMIT University scientists working with schools and community groups to deploy 100 GPS-tracked bottles in 20 locations across Melbourne's catchments.
Online interactive maps allow anyone to follow the bottles and discover just how rapidly litter travels through our waterways.
