By Jessica Micallef
Sunbury residents are being encouraged to lead the way in litter removal.
Water authority Melbourne Water is trialling the use of the Litterati app as a way to gather data on litter hotspots and then target those areas for clean-up.
App users can photograph rubbish and mention the most commonly found items using key words.
Brightly coloured signs have been installed across Sunbury’s bike paths, footpaths and at the train station to encourage locals and visitors to download the app, sign up, and help provide Melbourne Water with data where litter is prominent.
Melbourne Water education officer Jane Petch said the initaitve had the support of Hume council and several community groups have also been approached to help promote the message.
“Litterati is a simple concept,” she said.
“If you see a piece of rubbish, don’t just ignore it. Take a picture, share it and then pick it up and throw it away or recycle it.
“We know that 95 per cent of the litter washed up on our beaches comes from the suburban streets through the storm water system and we need to solve this problem at the source.
“Melbourne Water spends more than $3 million a year cleaning litter from our waterways.
“That’s essentially just under 1500 cubic metres of rubbish cleaned out of our rivers and creeks.
“Jacksons Creek, which winds its way downstream into the Maribyrnong River, is home to significant platypus population that the local Sunbury community is passionate about protecting.
“This is another pressing reason to stop rubbish impacting their environment.
“Platypus forage for food in the creek, which makes them vulnerable to being entangled and injured in litter like elastic bans or hair ties that can slip over their heads.”
The Litterati App can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play. Details: litterati.org/
