Week 47 - Nature & Wildlife - Litter Litter Travels This weeks challenge is also a big part of my job. This photo is from inside a recently cleaned Gross Pollutant Trap designed to capture large litter items before making it to our river. Managing litter is a costly and difficult exercise but educating the community is even harder. My town (40,000 population) has 26 similar devices installed which collect approx 45 tonnes of litter and sediment/yr from a small part of the city. Just like my photo pest species such as the water bottle are easily captured however smaller dangerous pests such as cigarette butts are not. Butts are the most frequently littered item in Australia (7 billion/yr). Butts and cigarette packaging make up 50% of urban litter. Butts cause over 5000 fires/yr and containing over 4000 chemicals have short and long term impacts on the environment. Recent litter report for my State shows that people don’t litter as much near home or in recreation areas but industrial areas, shopping centres and highways are hot spots. Don’t be a Tosser – Bin you Butts
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 03:28:05 +0000