Cleaning up offshore

Members of the Yeppoon SES after Clean Up Australia Day on Great Keppel Island in 2009.

Submitted

IT’S a local island paradise, and one group of locals is determined to make sure it stays clean.

The Yeppoon Coast Guard, with the help of the local SES and Centrelink, will again be heading to Great Keppel Island on Sunday as part of Clean Up Australia Day.

Yeppoon Coast Guard flotilla administration officer Arthur Hunt said this would be the second year the group had volunteered to help clean up Wreck Beach on the ocean side of the island.

“We decided it would be a good thing to do,” Mr Hunt said.

“Many people clean where there are cars and roads, but because we’ve got boats, we thought we’d go to the island.”

He said they collected around 40 bags of rubbish last year, much of which was plastic, washed up from the south-east.

The clean-up also doubled as an opportunity to familiarise them with the local area for potential future rescues.

Greening Australia and Stockland Rockhampton will also be holding clean-up days across the region, and are inviting members of the public to join them.

Greening Australia will be targeting weeds in the Byfield National Park, as well as the regular rubbish clean-up.

Participants are meeting at 8am at Waterpark Creek to register before heading to Nine Mile Beach.

Stockland Rockhampton staff and retailers are also inviting members of the public to help with their clean-up at Col Austin Park.

Their clean-up starts at 8am and volunteers can register on the day.

To Volunteer

Clean Up Australia Day is Sunday, March 7.

To find a site near you, visit the website, www.cleanup.org.au/