Reports came in last week of a huge amount of litter and illegal dumping around Yule Point by Port Douglas resident Shane Branch. So a quick response team was pulled together and a clean up organised for the following Saturday.
Even though from the road this area is stunning, with the ocean and palm trees lining the road, once you get out of your car and walk along the vegetation line you get to see how much rubbish is thrown out of cars, or left around the car pull out sections where people stop to check out the view, and leave their mess.
In total 2.3km of coastline was covered by the 7 volunteers. Over 141kg was removed, filling 22 bags plus some bigger items like tyres also removed. More than 80% of this rubbish was litter left by people travelling on the highway.
On the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, it still astounds me that people don’t either understand or care about what happens to their rubbish when they leave it in the environment, and the small effort it takes to actually take it with you and dispose of it properly.
Thanks to the amazing volunteers and Cairns Regional Council for allowing us to dispose of the debris for free.
Published by