The Tea Gardens crew covered a large catchment stretching out to Mungo Brush, Deadmans Dunes, the banks of the Lower Myall estuary, up past the Lions Lookout along the Myall Way towards the Pacific Highway, Winda Woppa, and all in between.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

“We’ve seen some evidence of car accidents and/or popular dump sites along lonely stretches of road,” Tea Gardens organiser Ken Paton told News Of The Area.

“Our volunteers’ local knowledge was invaluable, they knew the problem spots from past years, and a lot of these people come back each year to volunteer.”

Big concerns were raised regarding remote beach access roads further up Mungo Brush Road, where it is believed beach visitors stop to deflate/inflate their tyres, have a smoke, and dump butts and rubbish accumulated on their day out.

Rotting bait was also found near the beach, as well as cans, bottles, fast-food wrappers, waste oil in buckets, styrofoam, bike parts, rusty metal, old tyres and lots of tennis balls.

While old tyres may be particularly costly to dispose of properly, they are easily re-purposed as planters or other creative options, and scrap metal can be left at the tip for free.

An alarming number of road reflectors had been ripped out of the ground and left in ditches or the river – many near the Singing Bridge approaches.

“We spent two hours just in the area between Ibis Ave and the Bridge, pulling things out of the ditch and gullies along the road into Hawks Nest,” Amanda Sykes told NOTA.

The average age of volunteers was up around 70, leading to concerns that future Clean Up days may not be so well attended, especially as volunteer numbers were also down from last year.

In Pindimar/Bundabah, there were fewer volunteers but the local stalwarts were joined by visitors.

“It was good to see some new faces… but a lot of ours were in their 80s and 90s,” Bob Dowling, Pindimar Clean Up organiser for the past 15 years told NOTA.

“It is wonderful to see the pride and care our locals have of this magnificent area, and thanks to the MidCoast Council for slashing the main roads during the week, this is an enormous help.”

“Thanks to the volunteers who turned up this morning to help clean up our little piece of Paradise for CUA Day, even some visitors of members got stuck in,” added Pindimar Bundabah Community Association Secretary Kathy Jones.

By Thomas O’KEEFE