A few dozen committed volunteers braved the late autumn chill last week in Jindabyne to rid Banjo Paterson Park and the Lake Jindabyne shore of rubbish and litter, with the famous mountain town once again looking its best ahead of the peak visitor season.
Working from the afternoon into the early evening on Wednesday 8 May 2024, the May Community Cleanup successfully cleared over 245kg of litter in less than three hours. An overflowing bag of recyclables was collected in addition to the almost quarter ton of rubbish, which was donated to a local little picking group to redeem under the NSW Government's Return and Earn scheme.
May's Community Cleanup is the latest instalment of an ongoing collaboration between Sustainable Snowies and Snowy Monaro Regional Council, partnering together with our community to deliver the Sustainable Snowies Litter Prevention Strategy.
This incredible volunteer effort was bolstered by a list of hotspots that was scouted out by the organisers ahead of time, helping our litter-pickers to target areas most in need.
Small paper and cardboard items were the most numerous kind of litter collected, clocking in at 476 pieces at the final count. Soft plastics (like food wrappers) were a close second, with a total count of 413 pieces cleaned up on the day.
Weighing so little, this smaller and lighter rubbish regularly finds its way into our environment carried on the wind from overfilled household and public bins, when dropped by scavenging birds, or when it falls out of cars and people's pockets.
The sheer number of little bits of litter cleaned up and removed from the foreshore last week should serve as a reminder to all of us to be more careful with this kind of waste.
Our cleanup crew didn't just sweat the small stuff, with volunteers uncovering a whole range of big and bulky items on the day. These heavy hitters included four tyres, an entire mattress, a vacuum cleaner, multiple corflute signs, several shopping trolleys, plus a variety of assorted commercial waste.
After a chilly few hours cleaning up by the lake, our volunteers were treated to a hearty sausage sizzle for their efforts. Council and Sustainable Snowies extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone turned up and helped out. It was an enormous effort and your hard work has made a real positive difference to our community and our region.
If you missed out this time around, keep an eye out for the next Community Cleanup by following Sustainable Snowies and Council on Facebook, or signing up to Council's fortnightly e-newsletter at https://qrco.de/smrc-newsletter
Collection statistics from the Wednesday 8 May 2024 Community Cleanup:
- Landfill (general rubbish) – 80kg
- Recycling – 45kg
- Miscellaneous/commercial – 120kg
- Return and Earn – One full bag
Sustainable Snowies and Council count and sort all collected litter into categories.
This data collection helps track how littering and behaviour is evolving in our region.
