Clean Up Day – hundreds of empty beer cans among rubbish collected and reported by Kurrajong couple

Kurrajong residents Elizabeth and Andrew Docking cleared a whole load of rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day on the village’s Mill Road and in just a single kilometre picked up a mass of litter including numerous beer cans, oil containers, and worryingly, syringes.

As they point out, the beer cans alone could earn the dumper – or tosser as Mr Docking calls him or her – money by taking them to Return and Earn.

The couple also made use of the Snap, Send, Solve mobile phone app to alert Hawkesbury Council to heavier and potentially dangerous items which they couldn’t remove. This app is a real plus in the fight against all sorts of issues, including dumped rubbish, potholes and dangerous tees – to name but a few. It sends alerts to the Council and records it, so you have a record.

Some of the numerous shredded and crushed beer cans seen by the Dockings

“We first came across the litter issue on the roadside of Mill Road Kurrajong on a Sunday walk,” Mr Docking told the Post Sunday morning.

“We made a decision to return one day prepared to collect some litter and Clean Up Australia Day was an appropriate day to start. Of particular concern to us on that walk was the number of squashed and shredded blue beer cans that littered the northern side of the road.

Armed with a rubbish pick up tool and numerous bags, the couple started their clean up at the water tanker filling station.

“Right there we found a large feed bag of rubbish, oil containers and food and drink litter. Together we covered both sides of the road walking about a kilometre down to Little Wheeny Creek and then returned.

Dumped tyres and syringes among items reported to Council

“The blue beer cans were the most common item, a toilet seat the most unusual and syringes the most disturbing,” Mr Docking said.

“We used the app Snap, Send, Solve to report to Hawkesbury City Council dumped tyres, the syringes and bags of rubbish left nearby the creek. About 12 cans and bottles were not crushed or broken so will be recycled through Return and Earn.”

Mr Docking said that though they found it satisfying to clean up a small section of the road, “we were surprised at the volume of rubbish collected, and saddened to see the blue in the distance of more abandoned cans. A fabulous outcome would be for the can tosser to stop their habit, leave the cans in the vehicle and dispose of them in a recycling bin”.

“If they chose not to crush them, the hundreds of empty cans could be cashed in at the Return and Earn facility at Kurrajong Bakehouse or other facilities in the Hawkesbury,” Mr Docking said.

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