A big success for bush cleanup

By Isabelle Harris

Mar 7, 2022

Great effort: The group of people who volunteered to clean up the local area for a Clean Up Australia event run by Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter. Photo by Contributed

Local wildlife rescue organisation Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter held a Clean Up Australia event on March 6 in an effort to remove rubbish from the environment.

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Clean Up Australia events are held across the country to clean up litter and dispose of it appropriately to avoid damage to wildlife and sensitive bushland.

Twenty-one people took part altogether, including three Dutch Thunder volunteers and some Cobram Scouts as well as some individual family groups with parents and kids.

Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter operator and event organiser Kylee Donkers said volunteers removed a large amount of rubbish from Scotts Beach including the walking tracks and the roadside area to Thompsons Beach and the surrounding area.

“We collected about a ute-load of rubbish, which was a lot more than I expected ... there was a huge amount of McDonalds rubbish and a lot of the cans and bottles were alcohol,” she said.

“That’s a really disgusting thing to think of, an adult should know better than to be throwing cans along the roadside.”

Sorting: Once the rubbish was collected, it was sorted into appropriate bags to be properly disposed of. Photo by Contributed

The group removed four disposable face masks, two bags of glass bottles, two bags of aluminium cans, three bags of single-use plastic bottles and 12 plastic and biodegradable straws.

They also found cigarette lighters and drug paraphernalia, one bag of clothes, half a bag of vape wrappers and other rubbish including takeaway containers.

Ms Donkers said cleaning up was important before wetter weather came along and washed the rubbish into waterways.

“It’s taken away that ute-load of rubbish from going into our waterways,” she said.

“You could actually see after we’d done it, it looked so much cleaner, so hopefully we can make the community aware this has happened.”