Last weekend, we took to the streets of Chinatown for a BIG clean up! As expected, our volunteers were not short of litter to pick up in this area of Sydney! One of our regular volunteers even stopped by Woolies during the clean up to pick up a monster-sized rubbish bag to replace the one he filled in an instant! Areas where the council has installed planters for trees and other greenery are a constant issue – with rubbish piling up around the trees or in the gardens. And of course, the main culprits are plastic packaging (Mentos wrappers still a big issue) and cigarettes. We are well aware that we will never be able to pick up all of the cigarettes littering our streets – but we do hope that some smokers who litter will see us and think twice about what they are doing – especially if they see small children picking up after them! It was great to see one mama returning with her daughter from the February event, as well as 4 new mums attend with their children. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about such a large turnout (over 40 people!), but thanks to helpful regular volunteers, things went smoothly and the public thanked us for our work – proving that we are certainly visible. I would like to call on City of Sydney Council to do more about the rubbish issue in this part of the CBD. We need more thorough cleaning of hard to get areas, and regulations to prevent littering in the first place.
Our next event will be held in early June. I look forward to seeing you again there!
先週末、グリーンバードのボランティアさんは中華街の大掃除をしました！参加者はなんと４０人を超えました！予想通り、中華街では拾いきれないほどゴミが多い地域です。プラゴミはもちろん、タバコの吸い殻も特に多い気がしました。タバコをポイ捨てしている人たちは子供がその後始末をしているのを見たら、町を汚す行動を考え直してくれたらいいなと思います。僅かですが、その希望を活動するたびに持っています。市が植えた木の周りにもゴミがいっぱい溜まっていて、ボランティアさんたちがそれを拾うのに必死な姿はとっても誇らしかったです。やっぱりこの活動，素敵だ！と思う瞬間でした。今月はママが５人も参加して、子供たちはその倍来てくれました。二月に初めて参加した親子も戻ってきてくれましたね。これからもたくさんの親子に参加してほしいです！５月は私が日本に行ってきますので、次の活動は６月初旬に予定しています。またぜひ、グリーンバードと共に、シドニーをより綺麗で、エコな町にしましょう！
