Piles of rubbish collected by Friends of the Barwon

FRIENDS of The Barwon (FOTB) spent last Sunday picking up rubbish for Clean Up Australia Day.

More than 20 volunteers cleaned up under the Ceres Bridge along the Barwon River, where they collected 17 bags of rubbish for landfill and two bags to be recycled.

Two big piles of hard waste were also collected, including three vacuum cleaners, at least four tyres, two mattresses, fridge shelving and more.

FOTB committee member Trent Griffiths said he was shocked by how much rubbish came out of the area.

“Clearly some of it had been litter that had been disposed on the bank from when there’s been rainfall events and there’s high flows and it’s coming down and getting stuck in the vegetation.

“It was also a spot that people went to go and dump, which is a bit unfortunate.”

Mr Griffiths spent months looking for an appropriate location for their clean up, checking many sites between Buckley Falls and Lake Connewarre.

He said there was very little litter in most spots along the waterway corridor and nowhere near enough to stage a clean-up with the amount of effort they were planning on putting in.

Once he had exhausted the urban stretch, Mr Griffiths moved on to other spots along the Barwon River.

He said the spot under Ceres Bridge was obvious as soon as he drove in.

“I probably spent 20 minutes walking around and checking it out and spotting different areas down under the bridge that people kind of gravitate towards to sit and have their lunch or go and dump rubbish.”

FOTB, which officially launched in 2018, works to protect and restore the long-term health of the Barwon River and its tributaries.

The group’s activities include making submissions when there are any new development proposals close to the river about what needs to be considered, and attending workshops held by the City of Greater Geelong and Barwon Water around long-term planning and river access.

FOTB have also pulled together the perspectives of local community groups with the hopes of developing their first strategic plan this year.

For more information, head to friendsofthebarwon.org.au