Litter collected in stormwater pits

Gosford Council has installed baskets in stormwater pits in Umina and last month 120kg of litter was collected.

Mayor Cr Robert Bell said: "Our environment is unique.

"Maintaining and improving the quality of our waterways is a priority.

"This initiative has highlighted how much work still needs to be done to prevent pollutants entering our waterways.

"Baskets were installed, because we expected to capture a lot of rubbish, but we weren't expecting to capture this much.

"Everyone has been surprised at just how much is being captured, including cigarette butts, plastic bottles, chip packets, silt and leaves."

There has been floating litter booms at these outlets for some time now, but these nets do not catch the fine material, and are worn out quickly."

The baskets are lined with a geotextile fabric, which captures all gross pollutants down to less than 1mm in size.

Gosford Council was successful in obtaining a grant from the NSW Environment Protection Authority Stormwater Trust to install these new pit baskets devices in Gosford CBD and Umina Beach CBD, as well as larger gross pollutant traps at Avoca Beach and Ettalong beach.

This has been combined with community education campaigns - the message being "use your brain, not the drain" and "hefty" fines for those caught dropping any litter on the street.

For further information, telephone council's environmental project officer Ms Leah Smith on 4325 8912.

Press release, June 4