Dirty hands for a cleaner shire

By Lachlan Ellis

Clean Up Australia Day took place on Sunday 6 March, and groups across Moorabool joined the million plus Aussies who rolled up their sleeves for the environment.

The Friends of Werribee River Through Bacchus Marsh, Friends of Hopetoun Park & Parwan Gorge (FOHPAPG), and Friends of Werribee Gorge & Long Forest Mallee (FOWGLFM), were three groups doing their bit, collecting more than 40 bags of rubbish between them.

Between the three groups, close to 50 people took part in Clean Up Australia Day in Moorabool.

Joanne l’Anson is President of the FOHPAPG, and said she was proud to be part of such a great cause.

“Seventeen of us collected three trailer loads of rubbish over Saturday and Sunday. We had a skip donated by a local Hopetoun Park resident, Steve from ‘Just Bin It’,” Ms l’Anson told the Moorabool News.

“Council collected the small stuff on Monday after the clean-up. The main event was Sunday, but we had a couple of members who couldn’t make it on the Sunday, so they went along Hopetoun Park Road on Saturday and collected some rubbish for us.

“I’m so proud of our members, we’re only a new group that formed within the last two years, this is our third year…but we’re getting really good recognition from our community, and our stakeholders at Melbourne Water, who are restoring the escarpment in Hopetoun Park.”

The Friends of Werribee Gorge & Long Forest Mallee collected a whopping 32 bags, of the 40, of rubbish and recycling on the day.

Volunteer Jenny Whipp reported that this amount was down on the number from previous years, with the most unusual items found being “a car bumper and some framed pictures”, while glass bottles were the most common item found.

FOWGLFM Coordinator Kirsty Reid said the group had both members and non-members take part in the clean-up.

“We had 11 people on the day, that included four locals and seven members of the Friends group. We did the length of Long Forest Road, between the old highway and Toolern Vale Road,” she said.

“Everyone met up at 9:15, and we were done by about 12:30. I’ve been in communication with Moorabool Shire Council, and we’ve agreed we’ll fine-tune our recycling efforts. She’ll give us some feedback and let us know if there’s anything we can do better in future collections.”

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-03-15/13

in the 15 March 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.