Litter by location
The key littered items study sites are in mangroves in urban estuaries.
The study monitoring sites are in mangroves in urban estuaries and are not associated with specific land-use sites such as retail precincts, parks or residential areas. Those land-use types will feature in the land-based Australian Litter Measure, which was piloted in 2021.
In 2021-22, there were 10 study survey locations:
- North Coast
- Ballina, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie
- Mid Coast
- Stockton, Taree
- Sydney
- Muddy Creek (Arncliffe), Meadowbank (Ryde)
- South Coast
- Batemans Bay, Merimbula, Narooma.
Location of litter by site
As expected, areas with more people had more litter. The two Sydney sites accounted for over 75% of the litter. Table 2 shows the average levels of litter at each site per 1000 m2.
Table 2: Average levels of litter per 1000 m2, by site, 2021–22
|
Location |
Average density (items per 1000m2) |
Average volume (litres per 1000m2) |
|---|---|---|
|
Muddy Creek |
1,146.90 |
97.77 |
|
Meadowbank |
479.44 |
38.60 |
|
Ballina |
99.24 |
13.38 |
|
Coffs Harbour |
63.73 |
11.64 |
|
Port Macquarie |
61.47 |
7.50 |
|
Taree |
58.64 |
8.53 |
|
Merimbula |
27.90 |
1.84 |
|
Stockton |
24.40 |
2.63 |
|
Batemans Bay |
8.63 |
1.31 |
|
Narooma |
6.10 |
1.61 |