Speakers

Speaker 1 - S1 (Dr Teresa Mackintosh)
Speaker 2 - S2 (Shaelyse Frazer)
Speaker 3 - S3 (Senuth Randeni Pidunwatthage)
Speaker 4 - S4 (Brittany Wymer)
Speaker 5 - S5 (Su Dempsey)

[on-screen text: Litter Action Project. Proudly supported by] [Melbourne Water logo] [Victoria State Government logo] [Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning logo]

[on-screen text: Dr Teresa Mackintosh, Waterwatch Coordinator, Melbourne Water]

S1: The Litter Action Project is a project that Melbourne Water have been running with funding from the Victorian Government through the Port Phillip Bay Fund and it was a great opportunity to work with community groups, schools, and also the general community to target litter in their local area.

Working with these groups, they were able to tell us where litter was a problem, and then we we were able to work with them cleaning up the litter, doing what we call a litter audit, and a litter audit tells you what the litter item is that you want to focus on.

And it was very much about giving the community their voice: what do they want to focus on, what do they see as a problem.

[on-screen text: Shaelyse Frazer, School Vice Captain, Lynbrook Primary School]

S2: At the school there is definitely less litter on the school grounds, and you don't see as much trash and you can see kids putting the rubbish in the bin which is really good.

[on-screen text: Senuth Randeni Pidunwatthage, School Captain, Lynbrook Primary School]

S3: We've put in some drawings and things so that the bins really stand out for the kids that can't find them. And if they want to have a look, they can go put their rubbish in those bins.

S2: We've made recycling bins, so that every classroom in the whole school has one. And its for putting cans in, and every week we empty them into the big bins, and the recycling truck comes and takes them to get reused.

[on-screen text: Brittany Wymer, Year 5 Teacher, Lynbrook Primary School]

S4: They go and collect the bins each week, and they do a little bit of education for the teachers and students around what goes in what bin.

S3: And sometimes the teachers have lunchtime clubs, so the kids that want to help with the school's clean up and things, they go to lunchtime clubs and help clean up.

S2: Yeah it's really important, because if we tackle it now then there's less for us to do in the future, and that just makes the future better.

[Sign: Blackburn Lake Sanctuary]

[on-screen text: Su Dempsey, Treasurer, Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Committee]

S5: When we did our first lot of auditing, we had audited monthly for over a year, so we can actually pinpoint a particular area where the problem is occurring. And the majority of it is from the commercial, retail and light industrial type areas.

So we were trying to come up with ways of creating greater awareness in the catchment itself. We have always done a Clean Up Australia Day and we had a new stencil made up, which says 'Please don't litter, this area drains to Blackburn Lake' and putting together a sign to go in different areas of the catchment.

[A sign with a map, saying 'Stormwater from this area feeds into Blackburn Lake - Your everyday actions can make a difference to the health of our waterways']

And the idea is that we will move these signs around the catchment, so it will identify for people that they're here, this is where they are, and any litter here will end up down in Blackburn Lake.

It's got to be an ongoing message. It's great to see so many people enjoying the sanctuary, but it would be nice if the caring went along with it as well.

S1: What we really want people to think about is ways they can reduce how much litter they are creating. We spend millions of dollars in Melbourne and also in Victoria on cleaning up waste, and what we really need to start thinking about now, is how do we reduce how much litter is ending up in the environment.

[on-screen text: For more information please visit melbournewater.com.au/waterwatch]