mmg.com.au

Residents of the City of Greater Bendigo and Mitchell Shire are encouraged to take part in this year’s Clean-Up Australia Day on Sunday.

Mayor Lisa Ruffell said Clean-Up Australia Day was the nation’s largest community-based environmental event with more than 200,000 tonnes of rubbish collected in the past 20 years.

‘‘Clean-Up Australia Day is an enormously popular nationwide event that encourages people to make a difference by spending a couple of hours cleaning up their local area,’’ she said.

‘‘Every piece of rubbish that ends up in our parks, waterways, bushland and on our streets is potentially very harmful to local wildlife; it pollutes our environment and detracts from our otherwise beautiful City.’’

Mitchell Shire Council is offering support to any group that registers, including extra bags, assistance with rubbish disposal, the loan of safety vests and light refreshments.

There are a number of sites currently registered for this year’s event across the shire and all welcome volunteers—individuals and local groups can also organise a clean-up site.

There will be eight public sites in Greater Bendigo to help clean-up.

For a list of Bendigo’s public clean-up sites visit www.bendigo.vic.gov.au

For Mitchell Shire sites, contact the council’s waste education officer on 57346200.

Information is also available at www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au