'This is absurd': Locals incensed by 'careless' behaviour on beach
An “absurd” but disturbingly common sight has outraged residents of a popular beach after a trail of human carelessness was left on the sand.
Several pieces of plastic litter were collected from Mentone Beach in Melbourne by a frustrated local, who was especially angry because the rubbish was dumped on the ground just one metre from a bin.
“Take only memories, leave only footprints (please!). We are constantly picking up other people’s rubbish on our local Melbourne beach but this takes the biscuit,” they wrote in a post to Reddit.
More than 100 others responding were equally as fed up.
“That's f*****, but you're a good person so thank you for helping to clean up after the dip***** that have no respect for the environment and keeping it clean,” one cranky person wrote.
“This is ridiculous. How hard is it to walk the two extra steps to the bin? I'm so sick of people,” someone else wrote.
“The laziness and carelessness is absurd,” a third said.
Some speculated the style of bin used could be one reason litterers opted not to dispose of rubbish appropriately.
“I feel like a way to reduce littering is to remove those metal things on top of the bin that stop the lid from fully opening,” one person wrote.
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“Obviously the rubbish in this photo is small in size so there’s no excuse here, but sometimes I see large amounts of rubbish and think to myself ‘they’ve probably dumped it like that because the lid only opens 20% of the way’.”
Others responded saying the metal device was used to stop birds being able to open bins and help themselves to what’s inside.
“It’s to prevent birds from creating more mess thus creating pollution in the water causing potential harm to sea life. It also minimises smell and the effects of weather,” one suggested.
Another sarcastically remarked: “You can't blame people for littering when there isn't any bins near by.
“I'll take that over people who can't be bothered to make it to a public toilet,” another joked.
It wasn’t the first time members of the public have pointed out inexcusable acts of littering in public areas.
The Clyde River National Park, near Batemans Bay on the NSW south coast, was recently found littered with beer bottles by a “disgusted” man who shared photos of the mess to Facebook.
There was a similar scene on Moreton Island, near Brisbane, where “devastated” volunteers removed a tonne of plastic pollution from the shores of the previously “pristine” beach.
A woman was also shocked to find a vintage plastic Woolworths bag during a walk along Turkey Beach near Gladstone.
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