31-03-2025
4WD drivers slammed for 'poor camping practices' after 440kg discovery
A volunteer group who tirelessly remove waste from Aussie waterways every weekend has slammed 4WD campers for adding to their clean-up efforts, after retrieving piles of discarded beer cans and food wrappers near tyre tracks left in the sand.
The Clean4Shore team, headed by founder Graham Johnston, removed 440 kilograms worth of rubbish from Crangan Bay along the NSW Central Coast on Sunday. Despite the large quantity of waste being no surprise — with the team easily collecting double this amount in a single day — it was clear that "poor camping practices" are increasingly contributing to the waste found in the water.
"Some off-road campers think it's okay to dump their beer cans and rubbish in the bush rather than taking it home," Graham told Yahoo News. "I had a group of volunteers there who are recreational campers and they just shook their heads... there was so much."
Graham said more and more soft plastics are being found bobbing along in rivers and waterways, and it has only worsened recently with Cyclone Alfred "flushing stuff out the gutters" and revealing litter often hidden away.
The group of volunteers also hauled heavy oyster baskets out of the water alongside soft plastics and other debris like fishing equipment and tyres.
Oyster baskets that are damaged during storms or simply break free from the currents continue to clog the waterways. Yahoo News previously reported on Clean4Shore's constant battle with the items and oyster farmers have been accused of doing little to collect their property when it no longer is serving it's commercial purpose.
"Farmers aren't showing diligence in getting their baskets back, and it's a consistent problem," Graham said.
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More and more litter is sprouting up in Aussie waterways as volunteer groups across the country are desperately doing their bit to reduce it. Further north in Queensland, a similar organisation to Clean4Shore called Ocean Crusaders cleans waterways and foreshores in a bid to limit the impact on the local environment and wildlife.
Ocean Crusaders have been cleaning up the Brisbane River and nearby waterways since 2017. Volunteer Ian Thomson told Yahoo News previously he has seen an increase in the amount of mess littering the riverbank, believing the landscape would be "spectacular" if it were left untouched.
"[With the] amount of rubbish, it's not that pretty... it's disheartening," he said.
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