Zeikel and Emma, front, and Ryan, Ashlee, Wollongong environmental project officer Paul Leonard, Isaac and Bradley, back. <\/p>\n
Morale was through the roof at Wollongong's City Beach yesterday after a very satisfied bunch of Clean Up Australia Day volunteers packed up their gloves for the day. <\/p>\n
More than 1000 ignored Wollongong's grey skies to take part in the annual clean-up at 30 locations between Helensburgh and Windang. <\/p>\n
Piece by piece they binned about 10 tonnes worth of plastic bottles, chip bags and miscellaneous junk that is now no longer cluttering the region's beaches, bushland and waterways. <\/p>\n
Wollongong City Council's environmental education co-ordinator Mike McKeon said it was disappointing to see so much rubbish being thoughtlessly discarded. <\/p>\n
\"Whatever we drop in the street ends up in streams and creeks and then into the ocean,\" he said. <\/p>\n
\"In the long run we're making our beaches look ugly and we're putting our wildlife at risk,\" he said. <\/p>\n
Mr McKeon praised the dedication and enthusiasm of the many volunteers who gave up time over the weekend to make the city a more attractive place to live. <\/p>\n
Although some locations were brimming with rubbish, Mr McKeon said there had been areas of improvement. <\/p>\n
Puckey's Estate Reserve used to harbour up to four tonnes of waste - now just a few bag's worth are collected from the area. <\/p>\n
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Beaches sparkling after annual clean-up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zeikel and Emma, front, and Ryan, Ashlee, Wollongong environmental project officer Paul Leonard, Isaac and Bradley, back. Morale was through the roof at Wollongong's City Beach yesterday after a very satisfied bunch of Clean Up Australia Day volunteers packed up their gloves for the day. More than 1000 ignored Wollongong's grey skies to take part in the annual clean-up at 30 locations between Helensburgh and Windang. Continue reading