CLOSE encounters with a red-bellied black snake and traffic whizzing past did not deter the small band of volunteers who spent three hours cleaning up a six kilometre stretch of Sapphire Coast Drive on Sunday.
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A large quantity of rubbish was picked up along the road and in the bush area from Bournda Rd to the Sandy Creek bridge on Sapphire Coast Drive.
The majority of the rubbish was drink bottles - both plastic and glass - cans, cigarette packs and food packaging.
Hub caps, a mobile phone, homemade drug paraphernalia and a mesh cage from the front of an electric fan were just some of the more unusual items found.
Over the past six years a clean up has been coordinated on this stretch of road by the Bournda Environmental Education Centre with the assistance of National Parks and Wildlife Service personnel and community volunteers.
The EEC has focused its attention on this section of the road as litter from this particular area can potentially wash into Wallagoot Lake and Bournda Lagoon.
Bemboka Landcare’s efforts to take part in Sunday’s clean up unfortunately fell through when equipment from Clean Up Australia Day failed to arrive in the post on time.
However, Pip Collins from Bemboka Landcare said if and when the equipment does arrive the group still plans to hold a clean up at the Bemboka River Reserve.
“It is a good way of increasing public awareness about what the group does,” Ms Collins said.
Disappointingly, only a few people turned up at each of the other local sites to lend a hand cleaning up the environment in which we all live.
BEGA High School Year 7 students demonstrated their willingness to keep Bega beautiful by donning gloves and filling bags with rubbish on Friday.
In groups of four, the students collected rubbish in Bega Park before heading next door to the swimming pool where they were rewarded with nearly an hour of pool time.
Picking up other people’s rubbish may not have been their idea of fun, but they undertook this community service without complaint.
Year 7 advisor Brenda Montgomery was proud of the students and the school’s involvement in the annual clean up.
Bega High School was one of two Clean Up Australia Day sites registered within the town.
The other area to be given a clean up on Sunday was the Valley Fields.
Tathra and Wolumla Public Schools also held clean up days on Friday.
Other sites registered within the local district included Armands Bay Beach, Bemboka River Reserve, Sapphire Coast Drive, Tathra Beach and Yurammie (Yellow Pinch).
