Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter

Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by ajxs on Wednesday March 04, 2026 @09:05PM (#47256588)

I always bring bags/gloves/grabber with me whenever I visit the local national park. The rubbish is particularly bad in popular picnic spots, like the areas around Audley^1. The NPWS staff do a great job of keeping the parks clean, but they can't get everything. You'd be shocked how quickly you can fill a garbage bag on a short walk. The most common items by far are disposable coffee cups and cigarette packets (with nearly 100% imported packaging). Just make sure you're careful about snakes in summer. I once put my hand within striking distance when picking up a chip packet! Some of them are so well camouflaged.

1: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/cafes-and-...

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Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by Intermernet on Wednesday March 04, 2026 @09:21PM (#47256680)

Thanks mate, glad I'm not alone doing this.

When my brother and I were young, my parents used to pay us 5 cents for every piece of rubbish we picked up on bushwalks. We got a few dollars to buy the things they would have invariably bought for us anyway, and the walking tracks became, for at least an hour or so, free from garbage.

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Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by bananaboy on Thursday March 05, 2026 @05:37AM (#47260057)

I do this with my son when we go for a walk through our nearby reserve! I'm trying to teach him about nature and keeping our environment clean and how we live alongside nature and we should take care of it. He's pretty invested now which is great - when we forget to bring a bag he always mentions it, or if we're walking somewhere else like on the way to kinder he'll point out some rubbish and say we should have brought a bag with us.

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Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by throw567643u8 on Thursday March 05, 2026 @05:51AM (#47260136)

Audley and the Sutherland Shire was pristine growing up in the 80s. What's changed?

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Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by ajxs on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:55AM (#47260589)

Audley isn't actually that bad. I just had it in my mind because I visited there recently. You'll still find bits of rubbish around the place, but the NPWS do a great job keeping it clean. Unfortunately any nature area that gets a lot of people will just inevitably get a lot of rubbish.

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Re:Picking Up a Zillion Pieces of Litter by sl_convertible on Thursday March 05, 2026 @02:02PM (#47265765)

I spent an enjoyable afternoon on Kailua beach snorkeling for garbage. I found a fishing pole, a complete snorkeling set, and bunches of other stuff. I just grabbed what I found, took it back to the beach, and dumped it in the garbage can. Very satisfying day.

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