Rubbish rangers rolling

THE TORQUAY Rubbish Rangers have expanded their clean up footprint to include the stretch of Great Ocean Road between Jan Juc and Anglesea.

Drivers may already have noticed member Dean Walton riding the famous roadway towing a trailer with a rubbish bin on board, but with new branded stickers and high visibility vests they’re far more likely to now.

“We just hope that the people start to see how clean it is, and just stop throwing rubbish out of the cars and stuff,” he said.

With the Torquay group just over six months old, Anglesea a year and the Aireys Inlet chapter now operational for over two years, Mr Walton is convinced their weekly outings along the coast are becoming increasingly visible.

“We went down to Wonthaggi, San Remo, Phillip Island, that kind of area recently and you notice the rubbish on the road.

“Compared to the tourist hotspots there, it’s so much cleaner in Torquay, it’s good. It’s a lot of work done by the rubbish rangers and it’s making a difference, I think.

“It’s a great tourist road and it should be clean, so we’ll do what we can to keep it clean, simple as that.”

There’s increasing community support for the group of volunteers, donations from the Bendigo Community Bank in Anglesea, Surf Coast Shire, Bunnings, Hayden real estate and Lions have helped the group with new gear and free coffees.

After shredding the tyres on his bike trailer, the Torquay men’s shed recently helped by engineering a replacement axle and new tyres for Mr Walton and he’s also been gifted a “new” bike by a fellow member.

“I hate to see people on buses, driving down to the Great Ocean Road and seeing all this rubbish on the side of the road, I mean, just it looks terrible,” he said.

“We certainly get a lot of good feedback from the community when we’re out, we get lots of toots as people go past, so that’s all good.

“People are noticing that the Great Ocean Road is cleaner.”