— OUR NEW PROJECT
Project: “Keep Wakehurst Clean”
— WHAT’S OUR NEW PROJECT?
Over the past few years, we’ve been doing our best to safely clean up rubbish along Wakehurst Parkway.
It’s a tricky road, with fast traffic going both ways, but we think we did pretty well in our two attempts—check them out below!
What we realised, though, is that we need MORE: more volunteers, more safety, and more support.
That’s why we started the project.
Project: Keep Wakehurst Clean
First Clean Up of Wakehurst Parkway. Around the parking lot area.
What did we find?
We found suitcases, an old dishwashing machine, heaps of tissues, very lonly tires and all sorts of lolly wrappers. Nothing nice, I’ll tell you that.
Second Clean up of Wakehurst Parkway. Down from the Northern Beaches Hospital — behind the railings.
This time, we picked up plenty of disintegrating P and L plates, old signs, and weird bits of everything, all made of plastic.
And that’s when we realised we need more of everything: more volunteers, more safety, and more support!
So, we decided it was time to reach out to our local authorities and ask for help. We spoke with:
Mrs Sue Heins, Mayor of Northern Beaches Council;
Michael Regan MP, Independent Member for Wakehurst;
We also spoke with a lovely Project Manager at the Department of Transport and,
with the NSW Minister for Roads and Regional Transport, Jenny Aitchison.
We tried to meet with Jacqui Scruby, Member for Pittwater, and Sophie Scamps MP, Independent Member for Mackellar (sadly, they never quite had the time)
Wherever we went, we kept hearing the same thing: that the road was already being cleaned. So we decided to show that, actually, it’s not as clean as we’d like it to be.
That’s when we started mapping the mess. My mum bravely walked the Parkway, photographing the litter along the way! With the amazing HOT uMap team, we turned all that data into the map below.
Every tag you see? That’s another piece of rubbish spotted and recorded.
Now, we’re asking the Department to let us run a community clean-up event on Wakehurst Parkway. Yes, it means one road closure for a few hours—but it keeps everyone safe while we collect rubbish. And we promise, it will be worth it.”
Every tag tells a story.
Click on the TAGs to see another piece of litter we’ve found!
Test project: Mapping rubbish along the Wakehurst Parkway, Sydney, NSW, Australia