Clean Up Victoria's Bays & Rivers

Clean Up Australia again partnered with Parks Victoria to deliver a Campaign to Help Clean Up Victoria's Bays and Rivers.

On Sunday 7th March Ian and the Clean Up Team visited a handful of the 120 sites registered for the campaign with help from approximately 7000 volunteers.

The first site visited was Jawbone Marine Sanctuary in Williamstown. This is a beautiful area that experiences a high rubbish problem due to the incoming tides washing up discarded litter. Volunteers from Commonwealth Bank, Qantas, Friends of Jawbone Marine Sanctuary and the Mayor of Hobson Bay City Council pulled on their gloves and helped to fill plenty of rubbish bags to help Clean Up this beautiful sanctuary.

A little further down the shoreline of the Port Phillip Bays, over 30 volunteers from Veolia and McDonalds, including Ronald McDonald himself helped to Clean Up the Foreshore in Port Melbourne at Lagoon Pier. The teams were joined by State Federal MP Michael Denby and Local MP Martin Foley both of whom carried on with the Clean Up activities at St Kilda West Beach.

Ian joined another team from Veolia at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and whilst a common interest in sailing was shared the main topic of conversation turned to the amount of waste washed up on the foreshore, in particular cigarette butts. Ian walked along the foreshore picking up rubbish along with members of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and Veolia staff.

A number of community groups, including Earthcare St Kilda, involved in a Clean Up at St Kilda West Beach were joined by Ian to tackle the piles of recyclable plastic bottles, glass bottles and cigarette butts left to pollute the beach. Other high profile people also joined the site including Gavin Jennings the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Mayor of Port Phillip Frank O'Connor, St Kilda FC player Farren Ray and Victorian Premier John Brumby.

The campaign overall was a great success.