DID you know that 80 per cent of the rubbish that ends up in landfill can actually be recycled?
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And in Australia, we sip through 2,700,000 coffee cups every day.
Saturday morning on Town Beach, Port Macquarie was an opportunity to share some shocking environmental statistics and clean up our own backyard during the annual Seaside Scavenge event.
Hundreds of people flocked to the foreshore with gloved hands and one goal in mind – to rid our beautiful coastline of rubbish and keep our waterways free of plastic and contaminants.
Bag after bag was desposited at the sorting stations where up to 500kgs of rubbish was collected and catalogued. Once again, cigarette butts, plastic bottles and coffee cups topped the list of rubbish items.
Volunteer Ken Blacker said the Seaside Scavenge is an important community day to really uncover the extent of the rubbish problem across our region.
He urged people to mindful when out and about enjoying the local environment, use allocated red and yellow bins properly and take the time to pick up extra rubbish along the way.
“This is all about community involvement in contributing to a cleaner environment,” Mr Blacker said.
“It really gets people realising just what waste is around, especially the smaller waste items that people often just don’t notice.
“When you’re out and about just really respect the environment and enjoy it.”
All bags of rubbish earned collectors tokens to use at food, drink and recycled clothing stalls on the day.