Australia’s largest and longest running national day of environmental action swings into action this weekend around Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast.
More than 20 separate events will run across the region as part of Clean Up Australia Day this Sunday, March 2.
More than 22 million Australians have volunteered for Clean Up Australia events since the organisation’s founding in 1990.
Volunteer organisation Geelong Intrepid Landcare will host a clean up at Cowies Creek on Sunday.
Event organiser Courtney Jennings, who has registered as an individual over the past few years, said it was “amazing how much a small group of volunteers can do in an hour or two”.
“Cowies Creek gets a lot of public activity, particularly in the area of Seagull Park, so there’s often quite a bit of rubbish in that area,” Ms Jennings said.
Clifton Springs Curlewis Coastcare Group treasurer and Clean Up Australia coordinator Rob Gardner said everyone was welcome to join its third Clean Up Australia Day event at Clifton Springs Harbour this Sunday.
“Clifton Springs is scenically very attractive with a nice coastline and it’s quiet,” he said.
“We do a lot of work along the coastline as the coastcare group. It’s improving slowly, but there’s still more work to do.
“We had 39 people participate last year and collected close to 1650 bits of rubbish, most of them soft plastics. They’re usually reasonable size pieces, but they break down into millions of pieces.”
Visit cleanup.org.au to register for a local event or donate to Clean Up Australia.
Jena Carr & Matt Hewson
