They arrive in their hordes, inject plenty of cash into our economy and generally behave themselves.

But with the traffic and people comes rubbish. Tonnes of it. 

Our coastal councils do their best to clean it up from overflowing bins in public spaces. 

Kerbside collections of recyclables especially are increased. Pick-ups from parks and beachside reserves are ramped up. Sadly, it never seems quite enough.

Wander on to any of beautiful beaches and it won’t take long before you stumble upon rubbish that’s either washed up or carelessly left behind.

Plastics are ubiquitous. Drink bottles, bottle caps, food containers, cling wrap can be found on what from afar appear to be pristine stretches of sand.

Discarded fishing line, nylon rope, aluminium cans, pieces of packing foam mark the high water line, along with bluebottles and seaweed.

All of this contributes, with the connivance of ocean currents, to the floating island of plastic adrift in the central Pacific. Its effect on marine life is disastrous.

We all have a role to play in turning this toxic tide around. 

Booderee National Park is showing the way. Its Keep Booderee Beautiful campaign has kicked off with a clean-up, designed to make the place sparkle before the tourists descend. If a place is clean to begin with, it’s more likely to stay that way. 

This is leading by example.

Fairfax Media will be playing its part as well in coming weeks, with a series of stories about litter in our local area.

We’re spreading the message to readers in Canberra, who love the South Coast but may not be aware of the impact they have on it. 

And we’re not just concentrating on the beaches and rivers that attract people here.

A story that grabbed our attention, which we will publish in coming days, concerns the spike in litter along the Princes Highway that arrives with the Christmas holiday traffic.

This is an important dimension to the litter issue because all those wrappers, cans, bottles and plastic wash into our waterways and ultimately end up in the ocean. 

Reminding visitors to leave only footprints and take only rubbish (and good memories) will help us keep the South Coast clean.