How dedicated volunteers clean up dirty rivers, parks and streets in Canterbury Bankstown
More than 100 community groups will scout around the streets and rivers around Canterbury Bankstown to clean up the large quantity of rubbish on Sunday.
MORE than 100 community groups will scout around the streets and rivers around Canterbury Bankstown to clean up the large quantity of rubbish on Sunday, March 3.
The hundreds of volunteers will spare no effort to spruce up the public spaces, including ridding the Georges and Cooks rivers of vast rubbish.
According to Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour, the council cleans up more than 2,500 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish each year, enough to fill 250 trucks.
“Last year, more than 400 volunteers collected over 500 bags (four tonnes) of litter from our parks and waterways, on Clean Up Australia Day, at more than 100 sites across our City,” Cr Asfour said.
This Sunday, Neville Austin of the Hume Region Scouts Adventurous Activities team, will co-ordinate the Canoe Journey, now its 15th year.
Their teams use canoes to pick up rubbish in the Georges River, starting at Como, in the Sutherland Shire.
They will finish at Monash Reserve, East Hills, in Georges River National Park.
“Over the years, we have seen a good difference to the (Georges) river, in that it’s getting cleaner,” Mr Austin said.
“I was first involved with Clean Up Australia Day 15 years ago and thought it was a good activity to take part in.
“With the support of other leaders, parents and a stack of cubs, scouts and ventures we have managed to keep the activity going.”
Meanwhile, the Mudcrabs will try and clean the Cooks River — considered one of the most polluted in Australia — at Canterbury but say rubbish should not be dumped in the first place.
According to Catarina Fraga Matos of the Cooks River Alliance, if the rubbish is left in the river, it is devastating to the wildlife and ecosystems of the Cooks River — and to the surrounding people.
“Clean-ups are great and certainly help the river but are not the solution,” she said.
“We need to prevent litter from getting into the river in the first place.
“To this end, the Mudcrabs formed a new group called the crab walking group.
While Mudcrabs meet in groups at designated times and locations to scour the banks of the river, the crab walking group walk the streets close to their home armed with litter pickers and bags to collect rubbish whenever they can fit it in their schedule.
Founder Martin Puchert began the Crabwalker group a year ago after starting cleaning rubbish on his own. In that time Crabwalkers across the catchment have saved more than 670 bags of litter from entering the Cooks River.
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Mudcrabs have been pulling plastic litter out of the river for over 10 years, removing more than 15,000 bags of litter.
“But it’s frustrating that the river never stays clean for long,” Mr Puchert said.
“New litter keeps coming into the river year after year.
“I wouldn’t mind so much if all the litter collected on the river banks where we could retrieve it. But that’s not what happens.”
■ Details: cleanupaustralia.org.au
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