Community members across Murrindindi Shire recently dedicated their time to take part in nine Clean Up Australia Day events, which took place all the way from Strath Creek, through to Kinglake, Alexandra, Yea and Eildon.
Council's Resource Recovery and Environment Councillor, Karine Haslam said Council wanted to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers, community groups and schools that took part in clean up events this year.
'Clean Up Australia Day is a wonderful initiative. After a tough year with COVID-19 restrictions, we really do cherish the moments we can come together as a community and do something that benefits our local environment.
'I had a great time at Council's clean up event at the Eildon Pondage. It was fantastic to work with the team at Council and do my bit to help keep our precious natural environment clean. We picked up a total of 15 full bags of rubbish, which amounted to 240 kg and included around 100 kg of recyclable materials. A huge effort and well done to all who took part. Everyone who got involved should be very proud.
'Let's not let our efforts end here though. There are simple changes you can make to your everyday life that will help reduce waste and make a huge difference to our environment, such as carrying reusable shopping bags, coffee cups and water bottles with you and refusing excess packaging. You can volunteer your time with local community groups that hold regular clean up events throughout the year. You may not think it makes a huge difference, but it does!
'Many of the volunteers at the clean-up events reported that they found lots of dumped household rubbish on roadsides and in the bush like bags of garbage, textiles and broken glass, e-waste and larger household items. A lot of these materials could have been taken to one of our local resource recovery centers for free. It's disappointing to see rubbish being dumped this way. Apart from being illegal, it causes pollution, impacts our health, threatens wildlife and causes a great deal of upset in the community.
'The total amount of waste and litter collected from Clean Up Australia Day events across the country is still being tallied. As you can imagine this would take some time! Make sure you keep an eye out for the Clean Up Australia annual Rubbish Report which will tell us how much rubbish was collected across Australia, including insights into the types of rubbish that is most common', Cr Haslam added.
