A lot of rubbish was picked up from the Georges River catchment last year.
Make sure you’re sitting down for this: from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, more than 47,000 kilograms of litter was removed from the river catchment.
That’s a lot of rubbish that could have washed into the river itself, which winds its way from Appin to Botany Bay and many other Macarthur and South West Sydney locations in between.
It took 1364 clean ups and 9657 hours to pick up all that litter.
It was done as part of Georges Riverkeeper’s partnership with NSW Department of Justice Corrective Services which removes litter from the catchment before it enters the river.
Here’s another number that will go close to blowing your mind: more than 1.4 million kilograms of litter pollution has been removed from the Georges River catchment in the past 15 years.
The amount removed during the last financial year was less than previous financial years due to the extensive rainfall, continuous wet weather experienced in Sydney in 2022 and the pandemic lockdowns all hindering the clean-up efforts in the Georges River catchment.
The Riverkeeper people say that there may also be less littering these days.
But which local government area had the most rubbish along the Georges River catchment this year?
That’s what our Top 5 is all about this month:
Number 1: Liverpool City Council area had 13,743 kilograms of litter removed, 1,686 volunteer hours worked and 216 sites cleaned up.
Number 2: Fairfield City Council area had 9,608 kilograms litter removed, 1,571 volunteer hours worked and 249 sites cleaned up.
Number 3: City of Canterbury Bankstown area had 7,156 kilograms litter removed, 1,776 volunteer hours worked and 290 sites cleaned up.
Number 4: Campbelltown City Council area had 4,590 kilograms litter removed, 1,466 volunteer hours worked and 215 sites cleaned up.
Number 5: Bayside Council area had 3,993 kilograms litter removed, 848 volunteer hours worked and 97 sites cleaned up.
Pictured (top) is Rob Dixon, from Georges Riverkeeper, who arranges sites for Corrective Service teams to undertake litter picks.
