A group of residents in Melbourne’s south-east are fed up with cleaning litter from their local creek, calling on the government s to take immediate action. Rubbish flows down Elwood Canal and Elster Creek into Port Phillip Bay on a daily basis, and volunteers scooping waste from the stream are at odds with Melbourne water on how to deal with the problem.
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00:00A shopping trolley, plastic bags, even a parking sign, just some of the discarded trash Elwood
00:09residents have rescued from the canal during their daily rounds collecting litter.
00:14We've been living here for 30 odd years, some of us, and we've seen an increase in the plastic
00:18litter flowing down Elwood Canal into Port Phillip Bay.
00:23It's very distressing seeing the litter flowing down the canal.
00:26Tracy Harvey and a group of concerned residents advocate for the health of the canal, Port
00:31Phillip Bay and its wildlife.
00:34Volunteers say they have a solution to stop waste entering the bay.
00:38What we want is a litter trap at the end of Elwood Canal, an end of line litter trap.
00:44Litter traps, bubble barriers, nets, all of them have limitations or other consequences
00:53such as the risk to wildlife that use the canal or risk of exacerbating flood risk.
00:58Melbourne Water won't install new litter traps, favouring a long-term approach.
01:04That will include infrastructure solutions but also drive some of that behaviour change.
01:08Litter is a behavioural issue so we need to address people's behaviours to stop it if
01:12we want to have a long-term effect.
01:13I know it's an area that is concerning to our residents and rightfully so, but we are
01:21working collaboratively and on long-term solutions.
01:26Community activists say that an education program and improved maintenance will benefit
01:30the waterway, but more immediately impactful action needs to be taken.
01:34Every day plastic litter is flowing into the bay.
01:38It's no one's fault, it's just plastics taking over.
01:42It's a silent sort of enemy.
01:45In the war on waste, even those fighting on the same side can be divided.
01:51For more UN videos visit www.un.org