Groups of local students, parents and teachers joined this year’s Clean Up Australia Day and while collecting sacks of rubbish learnt more about reducing the litter produced by the community.
Tewantin State School students worked with Peter Hunnam from Noosa Integrated Catchment Association (NICA), to analyse the collected rubbish.School vice principal Rick Cass said the students were disgusted by the rubbish but excited to work out ways to rid the river of it.
“The worst for them were the 220 cigarette stubs they found around the boat ramps,” he said.
“They now want to educate boaties, provide bins at boat ramps or ban cigarettes outright. They were also upset to learn that there were enough plastic bags in their small collection from the river bank to smother and kill completely an area of the river bed the size of their classroom.”
“It was a great add-on to the program we have running all year, working with Council and groups like NICA to study solid waste and rubbish in our school and broader community, and how we can all do more to reduce and recycle.”
