It’s time to come clean

Riverwatch treasurer John Tate said before making his organised clean-ups on the river official he had been working to keep the river unspoilt for “donkey’s years”.

“I would love to say we go out there and hardly pick up anything but the truth of the matter is that’s not the case,” he said.

“I don’t think we’ve noticed much of a difference over the years. Unfortunately, you still see a lot of rubbish along the river banks.

“We probably fill at least a dozen huge bags with rubbish from the banks each year.”

Mr Tate said he encouraged others to get involved in cleaning up their local areas.

“We love to see volunteers getting into the spirit but we can unfortunately only fit about six volunteers in our small boat. It’s easy enough to walk along the riverbanks and clean them up or find other volunteer groups in the area or start your own,” he said.

“We are hoping to get hold of an oyster barge this year so we can fit more people on it but that’s not confirmed yet.

“We leave from Grey’s Beach at 9am. We left it a little bit later for all those sleepy heads who might not have been able to get out of bed.

“We look forward to seeing everyone there.”

Huskisson resident Paul Sutton, who has been involved with Clean Up Australia Day for two decades said this year’s registration at Moona Moona Creek, will be its 14th.

“It’s really a base for anyone from any area to come and register, pick up a bag to collect some rubbish wherever they see fit, drop the filled bag back to us and enjoy a free barbecue at the end of their hard work,” he said.

“Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and the council over the years, last year we won the NSW Clean Beaches award. 

“Last year we had about 55 people participate and this year we anticipate about 60 and we have a range of age groups come along from five to 75.”

The Huskisson Clean Up Australia Day registration will be open from 8am at Moona Moona Creek on Sunday.

For more information on Clean Up Australia Day and to create or find a volunteer group in your area visit www.cleanup.org.au.