It's official: Queenslanders are grubs
Residents are trashing Queensland's once pristine beaches, with the amount of litter found along the state's shores increasing 100 per cent in the past year.
The National Litter Index, produced by Keep Australia Beautiful, has found 15 per cent more litter in Queensland than any other mainland state.
The performance was largely due to the number of cigarette butts found - nearly 20 per cent more than the national average.
Overall, 76 items of litter were found per 1000 square metres in Queensland, compared to 50 in Victoria and 75 in New South Wales.
Tasmania, where 86 pieces of litter were found per 1000 square metres, was the only worse performer.
However, Queensland's figure was likely to have been reduced by the summer floods which would have washed litter off the streets and into nearby stormwater drains and waterways, Keep Australian Beautiful chief executive Rick Burnett said.
Queenslanders dropped 41 cigarette butts on the ground per 1000 square metres last financial year.
“Cigarette butts are Queensland's disgrace,” Mr Burnett said.
“It's estimated Australians smoke 20 billion cigarettes a year and it's estimated 7 billion are littered.
"One in 10 butts on the ground are washed into drains and into our waterways and oceans – that's 700 million butts threatening sea-life and birdlife that mistake butts as food."
The index shows that general litter on Queensland beaches increased in volume by 100 per cent in the past year, from 1.84 litres to 3.8 litres per 1000 square meters.
“Queensland has the best beaches and coastlines and we should be the best performer not the worst," Mr Burnett said.
Although cigarette butts were the most frequently identified litter item, plastic bags and bottles contributed the largest amount of volume to the litter stream.
Other problem items include paper, cardboard, metals and glass.
The largest number of items were located within retail sites, industrial sites and shopping centres, while the largest volumes of litter objects were found at industrial and highway sites.
Mr Burnett has called upon the state government to help fund a new awareness campaign to change the behaviour of "serial Queensland litterers".
“It is a lazy and thoughtless habit, that has far-reaching consequences for the environment,” Burnett said.
Keep Australia Beautiful will soon launch a new campaign to combat litter and “butt litter” in particular in Queensland.
Mr Burnett praised a reduction in litter in residential areas, saying recycling and neighbourhood pride had been helping keep suburban streets cleaner.
“But on the open roads and in industrial and shopping precincts there was still a lot of work to be done,” he said.
“Food and drink packaging remain the most discarded larger items – people have to learn to carry these items until they see a bin.
“It's common sense, and a courtesy to everyone else to keep public places clean.
“It also saves rates and taxes on collection and fuel costs, and it reduces the carbon footprint and protects the greater environment.
“We all need reminding to do the right thing,” Burnett said.
The National Litter Index is Australia's only national annual quantitative measure of what litter occurs where and in what volume, based on counts taken twice a year at 983 sites across Australia.
Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/its-official-queenslanders-are-grubs-20110822-1j63z.html
