'Sad' photo following Australian Grand Prix ignites heated debate
A single photo showing a littered grassy area at the Formula 1 Grand Prix event in Melbourne over the weekend has sparked a heated debate online.
It's believed the race day attracted a crowd of 120,000 on Sunday, making it the highest attended Grand Prix ever held in Melbourne.
But the aftermath left some a little unsettled after seeing a display of rubbish scattered across the stand where revellers stood to enjoy the race.
The troubling scene was captured by someone who attended the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday with the event-goer dubbing it a "sad sight."
"The aftermath of the Formula 1 today... sad sight honestly," the person wrote on Reddit alongside a photo of the heavily littered area.
It's not known how long after the event had finished that the photo was taken but some people can be seen still lingering in the photo.
Many agreed with the original poster's sentiments, admitting they, too, thought it was wrong.
"Are the organizers going to be expected to deal with it? Or am I just being silly?" one person questioned.
"I really hate littering. I’ve cleaned up a lot in my time and honestly, we need harsher laws and people willing to enforce those laws as well as allowing free use of all council transfer stations," another said.
'That's nothing'
Many who saw the photo didn't seem too bothered, with the consensus being the cost of clean up is factored into all large events.
People also pointed out that the event had barely finished, and said to give the event staff time to clean up before criticizing.
"Have people never been to an event before? Or had a big night at home? This is a bit of after-party clean up like happens every night in every venue and homes everywhere. Staff are paid to clean it up and they will," one person pointed out.
"They factor the clean up cost and contractors to do it in their budget years in advance and have them ready to start the clean up as soon as the event has ended. Would be nice if people did put their rubbish in the bin but 400k people attending an event over a weekend is always going to need a clean up," another explained.
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"It's still light and there are people still there, so I'm guessing this was taken less than an hour after the race finished. If this was 48 hours after then you'd be worried but come on, let the dust settle a bit first," a third wrote.
One told the poster to "get a grip" insisting "this type of thing is factored into these types of events".
"They could put 1,000 bins out, but they would be full in no time," they added.
Others noted there was no sight of a bin in the picture, but some who attended the event said there were plenty around the area.
With so many people in attendance though, the bins filled up quickly resulting in many attendees dumping their rubbish on the floor.
"The bins were full where I was. Most people piled the excess rubbish around the full bins," one person said.
"This spot was filled with people sitting and standing like sardines. It would be irresponsible to place a bin in the middle of a crowd expecting people to jump over people sitting to dispose of their waste," said another.
Agreeing dumping rubbish was not acceptable, some argued it was better to be left in the stands where it can be cleaned.
"If you leave some cans or bottles in the event area it'll at least be getting cleaned up by the contractors pretty quickly. I assume the council charges the GP a hefty fee for holding the event and would have additional cleaning surrounding the event site but can't be sure when it would be getting cleaned," one said.
"People that litter on other people's properties are just a***holes, they literally walked past a rubbish bin 2 minutes prior," fumed another.
Yahoo News Australia reached out to Grand Prix Australia event organisers for comment.
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