From left: Nerissa Carter, Grace Davis-Williams, Jamie Carns, Stuart Coller, Melissa Spinks, Louise Chapple and Daniel Williamson

Community members across Murrindindi Shire have dedicated their time over the past fortnight to take part in Clean Up Australia Day events.

There were 13 events in total taking place all the way from Strath Creek, through to Kinglake, Alexandra, Yea and Taggerty.

Council’s Infrastructure and Waste Portfolio Councillor, Eric Lording said Council wanted to say a thanksto all the volunteers, community groups and schools that took part this year.

“It’s fantastic to see such community spirit alive and well in our Shire,” Cr Lording said.

“Clean Up Australia Day is such a great initiative and it brings so many people together.

“Let’s all continue as a community, to band together and create positive changes for our local environment.

“Even simple changes will help reduce waste and make a huge difference to our environment, such as carrying reusable shopping bags, coffee cups and water bottles with you and refusing excess packaging.

“Volunteering your time, and talking to friends and neighbors about these issues can have a big impact.

“’I think most people who live in our Shire would consider littering and dumping rubbish to be unacceptable.

“I am really proud of where I live and I won’t take it for granted.

“Many of the volunteers at the clean-up events reported that they found lots of dumped household rubbish on roadsides and in the bush like bags of garbage, textiles and broken glass, e-waste and drink containers.

“A lot of these materials could have been taken to one of our local resource recovery centers for free.

“The waste and litter collected from Clean Up Australia Day events is being tallied so keep an eye out for the Clean Up Australia annual Rubbish Report which will tell us how much rubbish was collected across Australia and will provide insight into the types of rubbish that is most common,” Cr Lording said.

www.cleanup.org.au