Clean Up Australia Day

I joined a motivated group of local people (including lots of young people) down at the mangroves on Throsby Creek on Sunday afternoon to pick up the rubbish that had come from the 3,000 hectare catchment.

The Wilderness Society organised the "low-tide" clean up from about 4pm to 6pm. Earlier in the day, the good people of the Newcastle Rowers and Trees in Newcastle did the good work.

We collected bags and bags of rubbish, as well as bags and bags of recycling. The catchment above the mangroves covers all the way to Adamstown Heights, Mayfield and Hamilton and includes 67,500 people. When people drop litter in this area, there's a good chance it will end up in the mangroves.

To reduce the amount of recycling ending up in our environemnt we need a Container Deposit Scheme like South Australia. Newcastle Council supported my motion to lobby the State Government for such a scheme back in December 2008.