Over the last three years, Melbourne Water has run a Litter Action Project supported by funding from DELWP’s Port Phillip Bay Fund. The project involved working with the general community, schools and environmental groups to conduct clean-ups and audits at litter hotspots in their local area. Data from the litter audits were used to identify the most common litter items in the hotspot, which then informed the local action taken to reduce this key item.
Community groups have traditionally collected litter but not always recorded the items collected. This project provided the opportunity for longer-term data collection and the identification of litter hotspots across the Melbourne region. Single-use plastic and polystyrene were the two most commonly found litter items across all the sites. However, litter source reduction strategies varied depending on what the groups wanted to tackle. Data has also contributed to a new Melbourne wide litter monitoring database.