Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery commended all Clean Up Australia Day volunteers for playing their part in the "fight against pollution".
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However, he said cleaning up rubbish and taking responsibility for the environment should be "just part of our psyche anyway".
Speaking at the start of Saturday's Land and Sea Clean Up, Cr Bradbery said it was a shame mass clean-ups - which he noted would be happening all across the city - only happened on one day of the year.
"What you're doing today is drawing people's attention to the fact that we just chuck stuff aside, we litter and we pollute and we destroy not only the chemistry of the environment but the aesthetics as well," he said.
"It's really important that our environment is something we treasure and respect. We need to consider [if] we need all this stuff that we've got in our lives, and how we can moderate our living and lifestyle so that we live sustainability."
In town on Saturday to join the clean up day, two Greens politicians had a similar message.
Wollongong councillor Mithra Cox said "it would be much better if the rubbish wasn't there in the first place".
"Council and community shouldn't be left with the clean up bill, while the companies that make lolly wrappers, polystyrene, helium balloons, cigarette butts and coffee cups take no responsibility when their rubbish inevitably ends up in the ocean," she said.
Greens Waste and Recycling spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the federal government needed to do more address "the waste and plastics crisis".
"Our recycling industry is in strife - we need decisive action at a Federal level to address the problem," he said.
"Our current recycling system is no longer economically viable, and in many cases could not be considered recycling - it goes in the right bin, but what happens next is another thing altogether."
The Greens have introduced a Packaging and Plastics Bill to parliament.
Sen Whish-Wilson said this aims to hold the packaging industry to account on recycling targets.
"It will also see more investment in new technology and infrastructure," he said.
"The bill has widespread support from the waste industry itself and environment groups who understand we've hit a point of no return on our waste crisis."