Stopping litter from being washed into waterways is a message being reinforced by Victoria’s Wyndham schools. As part of a Wyndham City Council and Wyndham Litter Prevention Taskforce project, local school students have been stencilling a simple message onto stormwater pit lids.
Since the stencilling began last November, over 100 drains in residential streets have been stencilled with a symbol of a platypus and the message: ‘Protect our River …..Too Good to Litter’.
A total of 14 primary schools will participate in stencilling hundreds of drain lids throughout the year. Litter taskforce member and principal of Derrimut Heath Primary School, Julie Mason said about 300 students from her school have been busy stencilling the important message on local drain pit covers.
“Parents have been going out with the students helping them with the stencilling, so it has been a really good community project,” she said. “It is a very important message to get out – we don’t want litter going into the river or the bay, and we are encouraging residents to take pride in our community.
“The idea is to flood the environment with the platypus logo and message so that when people walk past they are confronted with that and hopefully are then discouraged from throwing litter in our streets.”
Chairman of the Wyndham Litter Prevention Taskforce, Councillor Peter Ross said the project is a simple, effective way to get the ‘don’t litter’ message across to the wider community.
“The aim of the project is to raise awareness in the community of the link between Wyndham’s urban drainage system and litter affecting our rivers and waterways,” he said. “Although removal of litter by traps and booms reduces litter loads in waterways, the problem is best addressed at the source. It is terrific to have local school students working on the project and literally spreading the message.”
The program is funded by a $1, 800 Beverage Industry Environment Council grant.
For further information contact Megan Mulquiney, telephone (03) 9742 0805 or email mmulquiney@wyndham.vic.gov.au.
