The wet weather may have dampened volunteer numbers but not the community spirit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Port Kembla resident Brendan Reilly organised a one-day community clean-up ahead of the Wollongong 2022 UCI Road World Championships starting on September 18.
"The weather was challenging as it was wet and cold but we still had 60 volunteers turn up to clean-up nine suburbs along the UCI raceway," Mr Reilly said.
"All up, I guess we collected 350 kilos of rubbish including footballs, tape measures and a crab pot.
"It was a pretty good effort for only a few hours of work."
Mr Reilly approached 65 cafes from Cringilla to Helensburgh to join the Facebook event Community Cleaneruppa and a Cuppa.
More than 500 coffees were donated to encourage the community to join the project.
"I'm new to the Illawarra, but the community engagement here is great, especially that little guy who couldn't wait to get involved in the project. I'm still buzzing from it."
"There was a young kid from Bellambi who had been wearing his gardening gloves for two days and had his bag packed ready for the clean-up.
Dylan Cumpston's mum, Lyndell, says her four-year-old couldn't wait to help with the clean-up.
"When I heard the call-out for volunteers for the project, I suggested to Dylan we should get involved," Mrs Cumpston said.
"Dylan is really passionate about the environment, he worries about what ends up in the ocean so he collects rubbish everyday when we ride to and from pre-school.
"We filled a 20 kilo bag of rubbish from Bellambi Creek including, cans, bottles, a modem and a small tyre.
"The creek is such a mess and feeds straight out to the ocean."
For his efforts, Dylan had a mango smoothie from Olive's Cafe at Bellambi, who supported the project with free coffee for volunteers.
Wollongong City Council will pick up the collected rubbish on Monday.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
