A rubbish haul of 50 old tyres and more than 80 wheelie bins full of trash has been removed from Williamstown’s Wader Beach in a mammoth winter clean-up.
A team of 70 volunteers – the youngest six and the oldest 80 – scoured the beach, near the mouth of Kororoit Creek, earlier this month as part of a Friends of Williamstown Wetlands initiative.
Spokeswoman Marilyn Olliff said the group, along with other local environmental groups, the state government and council, had been surveying litter along the coast of selected areas of Williamstown and Newport.
“As well as the tyres, which were decades old and degraded, we filled a 12-cubic-metre skip with rubbish from the beach,” she said.
“Hobsons Bay is rich in birdlife and native vegetation … litter poses a serious threat to the birds and marine life around the coast.
“In September, we will present the findings from our litter surveys to Hobsons Bay City Council and the wider community, and then we’ll decide what we need to do to cut down the litter in our area.”
