A Harrisdale mother who said she was frustrated with the amount of litter in her neighbourhood has taken it upon herself to do something about it.
Rebecca McManus, 45, has lived in the suburb for seven years and regularly walks with her daughters and dog around the streets near Harrisdale Swamp.
She said the area had been well kept until two years ago when rubbish had begun to build up.
“I constantly see rubbish in the reserve and around the parks and it got to the point where it was driving me crazy,” she said.
“I told my daughters that we’re going to go out every six weeks with some gloves and go around and pick it up.”
Ms McManus said she and her children Ava, 5, and Lauren, 17, tended to pick up about three bags of rubbish every time with most of the items being bottles, cans and fast food waste.
“Where I am doing it there’s no new buildings so the rubbish isn’t coming from building sites,” she said.
“It’s coming from people driving past or people who don’t put lids on their bins and let it blow out.”
She said she was most concerned broken glass would be stepped on by dogs being walked on a lead or children without shoes or dogs.
Ms McManus said before she began cleaning up she contacted the City of Armadale regarding the issue and they sent out somebody to look at the problem but she said not much had changed since.
It was at that point she decided to take matters into her own hands.
“I (now) go out twice a day, morning and night,” she said.
“If I see an area that is particularly bad I’ll get a bag and take it with me, if everybody did a little bit there’d be much less rubbish on the estate.
Armadale mayor Henry Zelones said the city was constantly battling rubbish issues and had put measures in place to reduce the problem.
“Litter is a state-wide community issue, in the 2015/16 financial year the city spent $540,000 managing litter and illegal dumping,” he said.
“The city has several street sweepers on a constant street rotation and parks staff perform litter pickups in areas under the city’s control.
“Australia wide campaigns educate people not to litter, but sadly some people still do.”
To get involved in cleaning up your neighbourhood visit the Adopt A Spot program online at kabc.wa.gov.au/get-involved/adoptaspot.
