HUNDREDS of kilograms of rubbish were collected by Redlands residents during Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, March 3.
Several clean ups were hosted around the Redlands, including one of Cascades Gardens, the Victoria Point skate park and Colburn Avenue.
Site co-ordinators Cr Lance Hewlett and Sheena Hewlett said this was the first Clean Up Australia Day since the introduction of Containers for Change in Queensland and the impact was very obvious.
"In total we only found three cans and two bottles between all of our volunteers (which was) a far cry from the bags filled with them in previous years," they said.
"We have been cleaning up Cascades for 20 years now and can’t believe what a difference it has made."
Volunteers at the Victoria Point clean up also found an entire single bed, as well as an office chair, food wrappers, cigarette butts and other general waste.
Environment Minister Leanne Enoch said Containers for Change was making an impact across the state.
“Since November, when Queensland’s container refund scheme came into effect, more than 250 million containers have been returned and $25 million has been returned to individuals, groups and charities in refunds," Ms Enoch said.
“This scheme has created a financial incentive for Queenslanders to recycle their containers and is helping to reduce litter in our environment.”
Pip Kiernan, the Chair of Clean Up Australia, said the amount of plastic found was a major concern for volunteers.
“As dad predicted, plastic is the main issue, comprising more than a third of the rubbish reported by our volunteers," Ms Kiernan said.
People who took part in a clean up on North Stradbroke Island's Main Beach collected more than 91,000 pieces of plastic as well as 885 glow sticks and 236 cigarette lighters, clean up co-ordinator Emma Meyer said.
She said 168 kilograms of litter was collected by 53 volunteers during the clean up.
"In the wake of king tides and big swells from Cyclone Oma last weekend, we (saw) an unprecedented amount of rubbish that (had) been washed up along the 38 kilometres of shoreline of Main Beach... as well as at Amity and around the Headland," Ms Meyer said.
Reef Check Australia volunteers audited the plastics collected at the Main Beach clean up and supplied the information to the Australian Marine Debris database, she said.
During the week leading up to Clean Up Australia Day, which also saw dedicated clean up events for businesses and schools, more than 680,000 volunteers removed an estimated 15 thousand tonnes of rubbish from parks, beaches, bushland, suburban streets and waterways.
