“Gives all the kids a little mission and they love putting on all the safety gear with the fluro vests and the gloves,” she said. 

“It’s achieving something at the end of the day.” 

Fiona said each year an enormous amount of rubbish is collected from along the Laurieton foreshore and other sites. 

“In fact the amount which is collected would amaze people,” she said. 

Two years ago Fiona Ewan began a clean up of the riverbed and of the foreshore on Clean Up Australia Day.

Fiona said the amount of rubbish volunteers collected in 2017 was astounding and included items such as car batteries that leak acid and is dangerous to the river’s health. 

“You’d get to areas where the tide had accumulated rubbish through the year, so you’d have an area that was clean and come across another spot which was just covered,” she said. 

Fiona said plastic items cause the most damage to the environment and the wildlife which consume it. 

“The shopping bags get tangled up in everything and they hook so well onto the rocks and the mangroves which have their roots sticking out from the mud,” she said. 

Fiona said it would be fantastic to see a Return and Earn reverse vending machine to encourage people to collect recyclable material and more yellow recycling bins in public spaces. 

Queens Lake Sailing Club commodore (president) Dave Castleton has been pushing for there to be yellow recycle bins placed in public spaces in the Camden Haven. 

For more information about what people can do to help call Fiona on 0457 800 385.