Trackcare WA and Pemberton Discovery Tours clear rubbish from Lower South West beach

An incredible 4cu m of rubbish was collected at Pemberton’s beloved Yeagarup Beach by a team of dedicated volunteers at the weekend.

In partnership with Trackcare WA, Pemberton Discovery Tours hosted the annual cleanup to remove rope, plastic and other litter from the Lower South West’s coastline.

Pemberton Discovery Tours co-owner Toni Dearle helped organise and run this year’s event, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, and said about 40 families came down with TrackCare WA for the weekend clean-up.

“We had 50 volunteers, including 40 families with TrackCare, with the youngest volunteer being five months old, while the eldest volunteer was 80 years old,” she said.

“It was a fantastic weekend, cleaning up the beach and collecting 4cu m worth of rubbish.

Some of the rubbish collected included rope from ships, plastic and even a portaloo found along the beach.

“There was quite a lot of rope that had disintegrated from ships, bits of plastic and a portaloo and toilet paper around, which wasn’t good as you don’t want that stuff near any wildlife,” Ms Dearle said.

This year’s clean-up marked the 10th anniversary since the annual event’s beginnings, with several Pemberton businesses commemorating the occasion and a Keep Australia Beautiful representative appearing for the clean-up.

“We had lots of gifts from the community to celebrate the 10th anniversary, the Mill House tea room, Pemberton Hotel, Grumpy’s, Pemberton Pharmacy, the BP Garage and the IGA as well,” Ms Dearle said.

“It was the 10th anniversary, the Keep Australia Beautiful Council brought a representative down, and they presented us with some canvas rubbish bags to commemorate our 10 years of cleaning up rubbish from the beaches.”

She thanked the businesses for their gifts, along with senior ranger Jeff Kempton who was present for the two days and shared his knowledge on the beaches and helped the volunteers.

Ms Dearle also encouraged anyone interested, who missed out on this year’s event, to come down next year.

“It’s an annual event and it’s open to everyone.”

“It’s a great opportunity to test your four-wheel-drive and contribute to a great cause, cleaning up the beaches.”