The Townsville Oonoonba Wetlands Clean-up inspired 41 volunteers and staff to partake in the four day, 42Ha clean-up event! From March 5th to 8th four trailers loaded with tyres were removed and dumped along with white goods, furniture and even street signs. The team came across a copious amount of broken glass that was dreadful to pick up and count along with numerous glass bottles filled with smelly mangrove mud. It was definitely no beach clean-up, the tides and rainfall created a muddy mess for our crew and volunteers which ultimately made it a great time in the end. Their hard work amounted to the removal of almost 2 tonnes of rubbish, including 570kg worth of tyres!
The final day, Bono’s Bobcat was on-site trucking out over 23 tonnes of concrete that was illegally dumped. In the past this area was pounded by constant illegal dumping, and local littering from activities that included fishing on the banks and vehicle activity on the mudflats.
Two years ago State Land Management installed metal fencing to restrict access in efforts to prevent the dumping and decefication of the sensitive and important aquatic plants that characterise a wetlands ecosystem. Tangaroa Blue Foundation was approached by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) afterwards to tidy up the debris that’s been there for years.
I’d like to acknowledge DNRM’s State Land Management for funding this project and participting on-site and collecting 600kg on the 6th of March. Thank you also to Conservation Volunteers Australia and their Creek Watch group for supporting Tangaroa Blue Foundation and participating in the event on the 5th and 7th of March, collecting over 500kg of litter plus another 240kg in tyres. Finally a huge shout out to all the volunteers from Mount Louisa Scouts, James Cook University and Reef Check as well as to the caring residents of the Townsville region for their contributions towards the 380kg collected on the 5th of March.
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