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A win for the Pin, after litter finds the Bin

A win for the Pin, after litter finds the Bin

What do you get up to on a Sunday morning? Throw on the first shirt you find and head to the shed to finish sanding off your procrastination- varnished recycled timber coffee table? Take the nagging little ankle biters to the park or to the beach? Get ready to play your weekend sport? Sleep in for an extra hour or three? (I’d take the latter, thanks very much, and a flat white with a triple stack of pancakes upon awakening from my beauty sleep.)

But could you do any of these things if you knew that our marine playground was littered with junk that only we are to blame for? Yep, blame yourself for other people littering. Sounds crazy right?

Once a year on a Sunday morning, some inspiring folk decide to get up to clean up other people’s mess. Yep, they deliberately wake up to literally wake up about litter! They’re the heroic folks at the Jacobs Well Fishing and Social Club who forego the temptation of wetting their lines on a Sunday morning of the yearly calendar, and instead roll up their sleeves to clean up what their fellow anglers and company leave behind.

This dedicated bunch of 50 to 60 good folk, kids and adults, armoured with the scent of insect repellent synonymous to coastal Queensland, voluntarily deploy themselves in the

dozens, armed with their gloves and determination to tackle the littered tackle. They battle the early morning crusade of militant midge flies and mercenary mozzies while knee-deep in the mangrove flats at low-tide to dig up half-buried rubbish left by campers.

This year was no different, spending the first Sunday in May to “Clean Up The Pin”. Partnered with local businesses, council and the parks department of Queensland government, volunteers removed over 4.5 tonnes of litter!

The clean-up saw alcoholic beverage bottles and cans, and food packaging topping the list on the scorecard. Throw in a few batteries, chunks of boats probably bitten off by rogue jacks, dumped and forgotten cheap and nasty camping gear, and even DIY toilets. (Yep, you get a milk crate, saw the top off it and whack a toilet seat from the hardware store on it, and you have yourself a little mangrove port-a-loo. That’s why I don’t play near mangroves!)

Clean Up The Pin has been in operation for over 10 years, and the Jacobs Well Fishing and Social Club can do with your help in 2016. (Remuneration is by way of the famous Jumpinpin sausage sandwich and drinks from the club.) For more information on how you can support Clean Up The Pin, please contact Jacobs Well Fishing and Social Club’s Kaye Mullen on 5546 2558.

By Daniel Kwon, Gold Coast Catchment Association