Cleaning Up

Sunday was our annual 'Clean Up" day at Preston Beach and fortunately the weather was kind to us.  The Golf Club members did their bit on Saturday (as they have their club champion round every Sunday) and I have a feeling some of them may have got wet! 

Picking up other peoples rubbish is not what you would call fun, nevertheless, there's plenty of community spirit goes into the event which always brings out the best in folk.  The event was organised while we were away on our road trip, bringing together the PB Volunteer Fire Brigade, PB Golf Club, PB Progress Association, the volunteer rangers and the Shire of Waroona.  Around thirty volunteers turn up.  Great effort everyone!

This was the first 'official outing' of our new Suzi.  We loaded Doug and Jan into the back 'Dickie' seats where they looked quite comfy as we set off to clean our allotted stretch of road.

The target areas were Preston Beach Road from the highway to the causeway, the corners of Coronation and Johnson Roads, the Causeway and Mitchell Road.  Fred coordinated the teams to maximum efficiency, armed everyone with pick up devices and we set off to do what we've done many times in the past.  Pick up rubbish.

Now I would be the first person to say that a blog about rubbish can't possibly be interesting but it sure is interesting when you see or smell what people bring back with them!  There was definitely some carrion in that lot. Talk about a reeking pile!!

Barry came in with the corner of a $10 note which we estimate is worth $2.50, it's a pity he couldn't find the other $7.50; there were marine buoys, asbestos fencing, a pile of tyres, a baby seat, mountains of beer and other beverage containers but most disturbing of all were two caches of hypodermic needles.  Noel had warned us to beware of broken glass and needles before we set off, and to be honest I thought the last thing we would find would be needles so I was very surprised at these discoveries.

Just one of the needle finds

Noel organised a BBQ lunch of sausages in bread rolls, washed down with beer and a Houston's white.  What a good idea.  For Lew and I this was a great opportunity to catch up with folk we hadn't seen since we left on our road trip in early May.  It's nice to be home and great to see everyone again.

We always have a photo call with the rubbish pile but due to a reeking bag of what smells like a dead roo amongst the rubbish nobody wants to stand too close.  You should've heard them complaining when I asked a few people to stand in front of the Coates trailer (kindly donated for the event by Coates Hire in Waroona).  So, if you notice a few screwed up noses and disdainful looks in the photo you know why.  I think this is about the sixth or seventh time I have joined in the clean up and I'm sure this is close the largest pick up ever.

It's not something to be proud of at all.  Visitors to Preston Beach have been steadily increasing in the last few years so I guess it's only natural for the volume of rubbish to increase with it.  The Keep Australia Beautiful message just doesn't seem to be working.

On our way home from the east ten days ago, we drove the highway from Kambalda to Kalgoorlie and were astonished at the rubbish littering this road.  There are forty kilometres of bottles and cans either side of the road and I doubt if you could walk two paces without stepping on them.  It's the most shameful exhibit of littering I have ever seen.  At least we folk at Preston are doing something about our own back yard but wouldn't it be an ideal world if the rubbish wasn't there in the first place.  I think it's high time the deposit system was reintroduced.  It works in South Australia so why not WA.

There was a hint of glamour on the day.  Just because you're picking up rubbish it doesn't mean you can't have a feminine touch does it?

Thanks everyone involved for your tremendous efforts!