Bags of trash have been sweeped from Katherine's CBD after yesterday's clean up efforts for one of Australia's largest annual rubbish collections.
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A group of volunteers banded together to fill large bags with discarded trash, otherwise destined to end up in rivers or oceans as part of the nation-wide Clean Up Australia Day.
Volunteers Chris Whiting and Matt Wheeler joined the crew to encourage their young children to get involved in the community clean up.
Once they had registered with the Katherine Town Council and received their gloves and trash bag, they headed to the bus stop on Railway Terrace - a rubbish hot-spot - where it took less than 10 minutes to accumulate a large bag-full.
The small area was teeming with volunteers despite the sticky heat of the morning, and there was still plenty of litter to be collected.
Mr Whiting said the area was in need of a larger bin.
"Cleaning up is everyone's responsibility, so it is good to see everyone pitching in," he said.
There with the Katherine Girl Guides, the pair said they had planned to walk along Railway Terrace, but upon seeing the state of the area decided there was enough rubbish to keep everyone occupied for hours.
Tracey Ramm from the Katherine Girl Guides said her group's bags were mainly filled with smashed glass, cans, bottle tops and lighters.
She said she was shocked and disappointed at the amount of rubbish speckling the entire area and said the whole community should be involved in the annual clean up.
"[The Girl Guides] have a recycling program where we are saving a lot of items from going to landfill.
"Clean Up Australia Day is a good opportunity to clean the town up - maybe we should be doing it more often."
About 500 metres along Railway Terrace, the clean up effort was much less intense.
Volunteers Mark Rivers and Cynthia Evans had been scouring the streets where the Katherine Town Council already has a dedicated cleaner - and were coming up empty handed.
"We were actually surprised by how much rubbish there isn't in the areas we have been looking," Ms Evans said.
"We are picking up the odd piece of rubbish, but it is pretty clean because the [council] does a good job."
However, the pair acknowledged they had been directed to a relatively clean area of the town and said there would be no need for an annual clean-up day if everyone took responsibility for their rubbish.
"There wouldn't be a need for this if everyone put their trash in the bin," Mr Rivers said.
More reading: Girl Guides launch Katherine recycling point
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