Locals absolutely furious after 'disrespectful' act leaves footy oval a mess
The hosts of the party, which took place at a community sports, have been described as 'entitled'.
Gender reveal parties are meant to be joyous occasions, but one family has left their local community members absolutely furious after a "terrible" image of their event emerged online.
Hosting their party at the James Browne Oval in the New South Wales Central Coast suburb of Woy Woy, the family left the area completely littered with blue streamers after the reveal event.
One community member shared his outrage after snapping a picture of the state of the park and posting it to a local community page, saying that the mess was simply unacceptable.
“To the entitled, lazy fools who had a gender reveal party at James Browne Oval on the weekend and left a field full of plastic streamers for the birds, dogs and eventually fish to digest. Could you please go back and pick up your mess!” he said.
The mess in question was hundreds of streamers covering a large area of the field, often used for sporting events, including soccer and athletics. “The level of stupidity is frightening,” he added.
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Gender reveal mess 'so disrespectful'
Many locals agreed with him saying that the park shouldn't be used for such events in the first place, particularly when it impacts sporting clubs and the environment.
“This should be banned from parks and public areas. Reveal in your own yard!” one person said of the party.
Another said their behaviour was “so disrespectful” and that they should be footing the bill to clean up their own mess. “Terrible. Some people just don’t care about the environment,” another added.
Meanwhile, some argued that the blue streamers may be made from rice paper, like biodegradable confetti, which simply melts away once it gets wet.
Cost of cleanup on ratepayers
A Central Coast Council spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia that the cleanup of the park now, unfortunately, lies with them. “Council is aware of this issue and has been attempting to clean up the rubbish generated from this private event; however, given the rubbish includes confetti — it has proven difficult,” they said.
“It is disappointing that some community members act this way, ultimately leaving the cleanup to others. The cost of council cleaning up is ultimately borne by all ratepayers.”
The council also called on community members to respect the parklands and community ovals in their area, calling on them to clean up any mess created and ensure private events can be held in such areas.
“The community should ensure that they check to see if a permit is required for a private event they might be planning,” they said.
How much does this impact the environment?
According to the NSW Environment Protection Authority, 87 per cent of NSW residents think littering is an important issue and describe litter as anything “unwanted that has been thrown, blown or left in the wrong place”.
Environmental expert Mark Brown said this type of act can be seen as littering.
“I don’t think this type of act is a particularly good idea,” Brown told Yahoo News Australia. He said it wasn't clear that the waste was plastic so it would be hard to tell how it would impact on wildlife.
“This is probably not a good idea in terms of people leaving it behind like this, so yes, these people shouldn’t have littered, but there is also a wider littering problem. The public should be very mindful of the particles they are putting into the environment."
If the streamers were made of plastic, their impact could be particularly devastating. Cip Hamilton, plastics campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, has previously told Yahoo News: “The big problem with plastic is we often use it for minutes or even seconds, but it can stick around for decades or centuries".
“Once it’s entered our environment, it does not really go away. Over time, it has the potential to break into smaller pieces and fragment into microplastics.” And these small pieces can often seem like food to local wildlife, which can often prove fatal.
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