Melbourne residents urged not to litter as plastic waste clogs up Yarra River

From Nerf bullets to shopping trolleys, three clean-up “blitzes” over the past year have removed more than 20 tonnes of waste from Melbourne’s Yarra River. See what other weird rubbish has been found.

Plastic bottles and packaging are clogging up the Yarra River amid a plea to the public to stop littering on suburban streets.

Three clean-up “blitzes” involving 320 volunteers over the past year have removed more than 20 tonnes of waste from the river.

While large items such as dumped bikes and shopping trolleys have been found, the most common items are plastic bottles, packaging and wrapping, and polystyrene.

Yarra Riverkeeper Association’s Nikki Kowalczyk and Clean Water Group’s Phillip Ryan at work cleaning up the Yarra. Picture: Alex Coppel

Also regularly scopped up are spray-paint cans, tennis balls, syringes and Nerf bullets.

The Yarra is the biggest source of rubbish going into Port Phillip Bay.

Melbourne Water team leader Andrew Mellor said the organisation spent $3.3 million a year removing litter from waterways.

“People often don’t realise that the rubbish they drop in their suburban street often ends up right here in the Yarra carried by stormwater through our waterways,” he said.

Mr Mellor said another blitz was planned for this Sunday between 10am and 1pm starting at the Melbourne University boatshed near Federation Square.

“This is a great opportunity to remind the community to do their bit and bin their litter,” he said.

Mr Mellor said in use would be a “snuffy hose which can suck up tricky, hard to reach debris like polystyrene foam and cigarette butts that get caught in the reed beds where local wildlife feed and live”.

Yarra Riverkeeper Andrew Kelly with a pile of oBikes fished out of the Yarra in 2018. Picture: David Crosling

Yarra Riverkeeper Andrew Kelly said among the more unusual items found were an anatomy skull and a mannequin’s leg.

“We are yet to find a real leg and a real skull,” he said.

Mr Kelly has co-written a book, Wilam: A Birrarung Story, which brings an Aboriginal perspective to the environmental and cultural importance of the river.

Co-writers of the book, published by Black Dog Books, are Aboriginal elder Joy Murphy and illustrator Lisa Kennedy.

[e-mail]

@JMasanauskas