A beautiful big pile of plastic bottles, plus a plastic chair on the Canterbury side of the Cooks River next to the Illawarra Road Bridge. All these were collected from the muddy bank just below.
About 5-metres to the left of the pile of plastic bottles shown in the photo above a White-Faced Heron was foraging for food under the Illawarra Road Bridge. There are more bottles & tins around him. Seeing wildlife like this reinforces the need to clean up their home.
For a few months now I have been noticing piles of dirty plastic bottles on both banks of the Cooks River. It seems that some local hero is spending quite a bit of time collecting the bottles & other pieces of plastic litter & putting them in a pile ready for either Marrickville or Canterbury Council to remove them.
To whoever is doing this, I thank you. You are one of those quiet achievers in the community whose work is largely unrecognized. It’s hard & dirty work.
It is not uncommon to see both adults & children fling their plastic bottle away once they have emptied it. Seeing the piles of bottles is a strong message to stop littering. One bottle doesn’t look like much, but a pile does.
July 21, 2012 at 6:59 pm
architectgja
You are inspiring people, Jacqueline :)
July 21, 2012 at 10:54 pm
Kristina
I agree architectgja :)
July 21, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Kristina
This is very inspiring! Thanks for posting about it Jacqueline.
July 24, 2012 at 3:16 pm
whimsicat
whoever is doing the cleaning up, they are a hero! and thanks for recording this great work SoT – you’re the best too!
July 26, 2012 at 7:38 pm
brenda
Wonderful story Jacqueline. I would love to shake this person’s hand and pat them on the back.
This story reminds me of the saying that “from little things big things grow”
I hope there are a few more people like this quiet achiever who clears rivers of rubbish around the LGA in the future. In fact, wouldn’t it be nice if we all just put our rubbish in the bin or in recycling.
October 19, 2014 at 6:04 pm
Deb
I think the bottles are put there by the Cooks RIver Tossers. They deliberately leave the bottles there for show and they are collected a few days later. The CRVA, Tossers & Mudcrabs joined together in March to collect this pile of bottles to give to Barry .. a month later a different type of bottle got him a new career!