Numbers were down but Parkes received quite a huge clean-up during the local Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday.
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Local coordinator, Michelle Bicket said 32 local residents supported the clean-up.
“The number of participants is well down from other years but everyone teamed up to clear away trailers of rubbish,” she said.
“The hard working teams removed equivalent amounts of rubbish to when we had more participants.”
The main contingents of the clean-up were the Parkes SES and the Parkes Rural Fire Service, Parkes Girl Guides, and students from Parkes High School.
Areas tackled by these groups were PAC Park, Memorial Hill, the BMX Track on Eugowra Road and reserves off Wellington Road.
“The Francis family tackled Bindogundra Road and Hunts Crossing Road where they meet Henry Parkes Way,” Michelle said
“They came into town with a full trailer load with metal sheets, steel posts, old tyres, clothes and nine bags of rubbish.
“Another full ute load was picked up off the Condobolin Road by Jill and Richard Crisp.
“It would appear the road has become a bit of a dumping ground for tyres and car parts.
“It is apparent that vehicle oil changes have been carried out on the side of the road,” Michelle said.
The Parkes Rural Fire Service cleaned up nine bags of rubbish from Memorial Hill.
“Again takeaway containers, beer, wine and soft drink bottles dominated the general rubbish,
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although to a lesser volume than other years,” Michelle said.
“After picking up bags along the Wellington Road, they then moved on to the BMX track, where they picked up a trailer load of rubbish for their efforts.
“The predominantly young members put in a terrific effort and should have been tired by the end of the c;ean-up,” she said.
“However they were still enthusiastic on their return for the sausage sizzle lunch and were discussing how to make the clean-up bigger and better next year.”
Not to be outdone, the SES filled a full caged trailer and ute load from PAC Park.
“This was an accumulation of two years of rubbish, as the NSW Rural Fire Service had cleaned up PAC Park on Clean up Day in 2013,” Michelle said.
This year there were again restrictions with respect to the clean-up areas.
“Young children were not permitted to clean-up on roadsides,” Michelle explained.
“And no clean-ups were permitted on the main arterial roads leaving the Newell Highway still littered with rubbish.
A separate group, Central West Kids Charity Ute Muster Stables crew (CWKCUMS), coordinated by Chris Williams, cleaned up the truck stop off the Newell Highway, often an eyesore on the entrance to town.
Separate Clean Ups have also been undertaken by Parkes East Public School, Parkes High School, Trundle Central School, Peak Hill Central School & Peak Hill Business & Tourism.
A huge thank you to all those who participated on a very warm day, Parkes is a cleaner community as a result.
Hopefully next year a few community groups could put aside some time on Clean Up Australia Day on March 6, 2016, so a few more areas in Parkes could be covered under the Clean Up. Don't forget, you can still lend a helping hand, If you see rubbish lying around your neighbourhood , don some gloves, pick up the rubbish and put it in the bin. It won't get there on its own.
