Over 247,456 volunteers spent almost 495,000 volunteer hours to remove an estimated 5,959.8 tonnes of rubbish in NSW last year with beverage containers making up 37.4 percent of the total rubbish count.

The NSW Government’s container refund scheme starts in July, which has been welcomed by Ian Kiernan AO, Chairman and founder of Clean Up Australia.

He warns however that while the introduction of the scheme is a great initiative, people cannot become complacent about reducing other sources of litter.

“Single use items like plastic bags and food packaging rank far too highly in Top 10 data,” Mr Kiernan said.

On a positive note he congratulated smokers efforts that have led to cigarette butts reducing their count by 7.8 percent, making up only 3.8 percent of reported rubbish.

Apart from that he said the overall results of rubbish reported by NSW volunteers were disappointing and reinforced the need for people to to take responsibility for the waste created throughout the year, not just on Clean Up Australia Day”, said Mr Kiernan.

Everyone in NSW is urged to register a local Clean Up site on Sunday, March 5.

Either hook up with a local site or go to www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au. Donations are also welcome and will assist communities who are working to remove and reduce rubbish accumulating in their local areas.