Melbourne Water is collaborating with Glen Eira City Council, Bayside City Council, City of Port Phillip and the Environment Protection Authority Victoria, to deliver a whole-of-catchment Litter Action Plan.
Why this project is important
The Elster Creek Catchment is an urbanised area that drains through the Elster Creek into Port Phillip Bay. In all urban catchments, litter management is an ongoing challenge, with litter from shopping strips, parklands, construction sites, and industrial areas being carried by rainfall or winds into local drains that meet our waterways.
To protect our Bay environment and our waterways, it doesn’t make sense to simply ‘catch litter at the end’, but instead put effort into stopping litter at the source and preventing it from getting washed into our stormwater systems in the first place.
Project overview
Trough this Collaboration we've established a collaborative working group which will deliver a whole-of-catchment Elster Creek Litter Action Plan to help reduce litter entering Port Phillip Bay through Elster Creek.
To help inform the action plan, an analysis of litter being generated across the catchment took place which included:
- Where it comes from,
- How it's transported
- What management measures are already in place (and how well they are working), and
- identifying the best-bet improvements and new solutions.
Using this information gathered and through community consultation, partners will then develop the Elster Creek Litter Action Plan which will focus on long-term sustainable measures to limit litter entering the canal, including: Council-installed large pollutant traps in drainage systems
- Improved street sweeping
- Increased and well-placed bins
- Enhanced education and community awareness programs
- Strengthened enforcement measures
- Industrial audits to prevent litter at the source.
We’ll also work with our communities to understand their concerns around litter management and use their local knowledge to refine our approaches.
Supporting activities
While we we develop and deliver the Litter Action Plan, Collaboration partners are also investing in shorter term actions to improve litter management in the catchment:
- Melbourne Water has increased the frequency of manual litter collection along Elster Creek/Elwood Canal
- Melbourne Water is designing a litter collection boom near Murphy Street, expected to be installed later this year.
- Melbourne Water is reviewing the function of the two existing litter traps in the downstream section of Elster Creek, to understand if they are working effectively or could be improved.
- Melbourne Water has increased the frequency of manual litter collection along the Elster Creek canal
- Glen Eira City Council is auditing the gross pollutant traps around the municipality to identify priority renewals or repairs
- Delivery of further stages of the Chain of Ponds and wetland systems in Yalukit Willam Reserve, which will ensure litter is filtered out of any stormwater travelling from the Bayside municipal area.
