Walking around her neighbourhood, Shirin Harvison had finally had enough.
“There was just so much rubbish everywhere,” she said.
So she drew up a map of Katoomba, dividing it into sections. She did some posters which were put up in local businesses. She advertised on the community Facebook page. Cr Kerry Brown mentioned it at one of the council meetings. And then there was word of mouth.
That’s how the first Katoomba Care Day was created and why, on one Sunday earlier this month, 20 volunteers turned up to help clean the town.
They were paired up and sent to various locations, from near The Edge to around the showground, at Civic Place, around the station, down Katoomba and Parke streets, along the laneways and into Lurline Street.
And they picked up rubbish – piles and piles of it, which were stacked in designated areas and collected by council the following day.
“It was great,” said Ms Harvison. “People were so excited, it was a real buzz, a really good vibe.”
People were competing to see who could collect the most junk, she said.
“I”ll definitely do it again – maybe we can do it twice a year.”
But next time she plans to go bigger: “Getting more volunteers and broadening the area we cover.”
She is also compiling feedback from the volunteers about particularly bad areas and hopes to convince council to install more bins in those areas.
