From early in the morning, and as the heat and humidity rose again, they picked up errant trash along our roads, with volunteers from community groups including the Karuah Progress Association, Pindimar-Bundabah Community Association, Tea Gardens Lions Club, and community associations at North Arm Cove.

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In Karuah, volunteers cleaned up the wetlands and out to the highway, with take-away food containers and tyres proving just as prevalent, indicating distinct patterns of behaviour by the litterers across the region.

“We’ve encountered a lot more dumping than previous years; more tyres than ever,” Bob Dowling, PBCA’s Clean-Up organiser told NOTA.

Bob, who has organised the Pindimar-Bundabah effort for the last fifteen years, carefully plotted a map for 23 registered locals, split into twelve locations.

“Our average age is probably close to 70.

“No doubt about it, this little area of Pindimar is very community-minded.

“Every year, I can rely on 20-30 people to show up; we appreciate the area we have,” Bob added.

“Some people started from 7am, some even began days before, and many were not registered because they do it on a regular basis,” Bob explained.

“We found a lot of heavy-duty stuff, like 44 gallon drums, and the usual fast-food containers.

“We believe that people buy them in Raymond Terrace, eat while driving, then just toss them out the window.

“I asked Council to slash Pindimar Road the week before, which makes it a lot easier.

“MidCoast Council are pretty good, if we tell them we found something too heavy to move, like a car a few years ago, they have come and retrieved it.”

One volunteer discovered a saddeningly huge dumping ground just off Warri Street near South Pindimar, pulling out electronic equipment, yard tools, metal cables and more.

By Thomas O’KEEFE