Great Northern Clean Up: more than 320kg collected during Burdekin’s biggest clean up

Two lawn mowers, a golf bag, jerry can and hundreds of glass bottles were just some of the items volunteers collected from Alva Beach on Saturday as part of the Great Northern Clean Up.

Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin said more than 25 volunteers banded together to collect 328kg of rubbish during the annual event, which was held in collaboration with Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Parks and Wildlife, Ayr Surf Life Savers, Gudjuda Rangers, Wilmar and Tangaroa Blue.

“Congratulations to all the volunteers on their incredible effort,” Cr McLaughlin said.

“This is the largest amount of rubbish ever removed from Alva Beach in a single event.”

It comes after more than 190kg of rubbish was collected in March.

“I cannot believe that less than six months after our last Clean Up Australia Day event, the amount of rubbish collected has almost doubled.

“We live in such a beautiful part of the world where most people do the right thing in disposing of rubbish correctly, however there are always some people who show no responsibility and leave rubbish wherever they go.”

Whilst the analysis of the collected rubbish is only 65% complete, preliminary counts show that among the rubbish was:

Once finalised, the data will be added to the Australian Marine Debris Database.

The information will then be used during the biennial Source Reduction Workshop discussion in 2020 where it will help develop plans to stop litter at the source.

In the meantime, Cr McLaughlin said residents could take a few simple steps to help minimise the amount of rubbish entering the environment.

“Council encourages responsible waste habits, which includes taking our waste with us, minimising the use of single-use plastics and saying no to plastic bags.”

For further information please contact Council’s Customer Service Centre on (07) 4783 9800.