Williamstown High School students last week threw bottles into Kororoit Creek at Altona in an act of environmental consciousness.
The school was participating in a “citizen science” project called Little Trackers.
Each bottle is equipped with a GPS tracker and note warning people not to disturb the “property of RMIT” as it simulates where litter ends up once it enters drains, rivers and Port Phillip Bay.
Project head, RMIT aquatic scientist Kavitha Chinathamby said people could see how fast litter travelled and how storm events influenced its movement.
“From cigarette butts to plastic bottles, the litter we drop on the streets in our suburbs finds its way into our waterways and washes up on our beaches,” Dr Chinathamby said.
“The Litter Trackers project gives all of Melbourne a chance to see the true scale of our litter problem and shows how we can all be part of the solution.”
The first bottles were released into Elwood Canal and one of them washed up a week later on the Dromana foreshore 50 kilometres away.
Marilyn Olliff from Friends of Williamstown Wetlands joined the students in the latest bottle release.
“Our litter hot-spot project surveyed litter collecting along Wader Beach near the mouth of Kororoit Creek in 2014 to 2017,” Dr Olliff said. “It will be very interesting to see if any of these bottles get washed up there.”
The project is a collaboration between RMIT and Melbourne Water, with the state government providing $310,000 over two years.
People can track all the bottles from 10 releases via the Litter Trackers website, www.rmit.edu.au/littertrackers
