Residents take action on estate building waste

ARMSTRONG Creek residents have adapted a national ocean care initiative to clean up their estates from construction waste.

Locals are being urged to “take three for the creek” to collect scattered rubbish on daily walks or through organised group clean-ups in a proactive approach to the issue.

New resident Heidi Atkins said she stepped out with friends and family last weekend to tackle the problem in Anchoridge Estate, using donated hessian bags from Take 3 for the Sea, after becoming fed up with what she called a lack of accountability for the volume of waste reaching waterways and wildlfie reserves.

“I’ve been picking up and looking at rubbish from building sites for six weeks since I moved in,” she said. Reports to EPA and City of Greater Geelong have brought minimal solutions, so I decided to do it myself,” she said.

“The human impact on this beautiful wetland is awful. We covered a 50-metre stretch and filled a skip.

“Underslab insulation polystyrene was the largest offender, along with large plastic bags and wrappings, tile boxes, plastic nail dispensers, temporary fencing, lunch items and takeaway wrappers.

“Afterwards, we took a walk over to the nearest development – there was debris in all directions.

“It’s disheartening to think that the next big wind or rain the area we just cleaned up will be full of waste again.”

Residents say they’ve been frustrated in their attempts to urge contractors and developers to follow through on their obligations to manage waste, and have also raised concerns with state environment and local government authorities.

A representative from Anchoridge said the developer was aware of the problem and had procedures and guidelines in place to mitigate problems.

“As homes within the community are still under construction, building materials can from time to time be blown into shared spaces of the estate.

“To help reduce waste within the community, our maintenance team conducts regular clean-ups of the estate, including any rubbish or materials that are blown into the wetlands and nature reserves.

“Builder partners are also regularly reminded to contain waste within their construction site.”