cleaning up in belgrave

Volunteers for this year's Clean Up Australia Day in Belgrave were very lucky the weather held out for them. Earlier rain did not deter people from coming out to help clean up Belgrave as part of this year's Clean Up activities.

I had the job of the town park which had it's fair share of food packaging and beverage containers.

Marina Dennis, coordinator of the Belgrave Trader's Association organised the day's activities. It's great to see the traders getting involved and really good to see Mikey from Belgrave Dry Cleaners and Glenn from Bell Real Estate getting down and dirty cleaning up Belgrave.

At this year's Clean Up I picked up dozens of cigarette butts, they were everywhere. There was also a lot of fast food packaging and drink containers too.
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Vicki from the Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group was there lending a hand to make the Puffing Billy entrance more beautiful too.

It's amazing what a small amount of people can achieve, but sad and frustrating that we still need to dedicate valuable volunteer hours to cleaning up because people don't dispose of their rubbish properly.

Well done to all the volunteers, the town looks great!

cleaning up in lyster

Yesterday was Clean Up Australia Day, I chose to go down to Monbulk Creek (Belgrave Lake Park to Belgrave Hallam Road) to help volunteers there and then went on to Long Pockitt Reserve, a stretch of Parks Victoria land in Selby, to pick up rubbish.

Community, Friends of Groups and Landcare members joined together to help clean up our environment. Without a doubt the most common rubbish found was beverage containers, this again reinforces the urgent need for container deposit legislation. I am certain that if a 10cent deposit refund was in place for our beverage containers we would find many less in our environment, as is the case in South Australia where a container deposit system has been in place for some time.

Alarmingly there were more tyres found this year, eleven in total. Home renovators had dumped wood refuse and roofing and the day’s collection also included the usual mix of cigarette butts, drink containers, paper/cardboard rubbish, styrene and plastic bags all in our environment threatening our water quality and Melbourne’s last viable platypus population.

In 2009 over 600,000 volunteers cleaned up just under 7,000 sites in 2009, and the result was over 8,300 tonnes of rubbish removed from the environment. On Sunday, the Selby CFA joined with over 20 community members to remove 5 bags of rubbish, 8 bags of recyclables, building waste and 11 tyres and our environment is much the better for it.

I continue to be appalled by people who think it is okay to litter our environment, particularly on the scale of car tyres and home renovation waste. It costs local government (our ratepayers) substantial amounts of money to deal with litter, whether it’s on our streets or illegally dumped rubbish.

To see a fundamental shift in the management of waste and landfill, the true costs of waste management should be met by those sectors that are responsible for creating it in the first place. This is the aim of Extended Producer Responsibility, which is a scheme that makes the producer of the packaging is responsible for it from cradle to cradle. The introduction of a mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility scheme will keep products and materials out of the waste stream and reduce their environmental impact. I look forward to the day when producers of the waste are responsible for the waste, perhaps we wont see hundreds having to come out and clean up litter and they can spend their valuable volunteer hours achieving even greater things for our community.

blacksmith’s way clean up

A big thank you to everyone who came down to Blacksmith’s Way in Belgrave to help clean up the laneway. Community, police and traders all came along to assist with the clean up.

Members from the Kilsyth Township Group came along to provide moral support to the Belgrave Trader’s Association and help out with the clean up. The Mooroolbark Township Group lent out their Gurney to help clean up the brickwork. The Upwey Township Group came along to assist.











Many hands make light work and it was not long before Blacksmith’s Way had a total spring clean, looking fantastic.

There are some spaces in Blacksmith’s Way that are crying out for some public art and if re-elected in the November elections I will certainly be exploring this option.

clean up the way day - 19th Oct

The Belgrave Trader’s Association are planning a clean up for Blacksmith’s Way, the lane that runs behind the shops on Belgrave’s ‘low side’.


For a long time Blacksmith’s Way has been an eyesore and far from an inviting gateway for commuters to Belgrave.

Its great to see the traders taking on this initiative and bringing some pride and ownership to the town.

Why don’t you come along, bring your gloves and scrubbing brush and give a helping hand, its on Sunday 19th October, I’m sure all offers of help are gratefully accepted.

I’ll be down there ready, willing and able.

If you’d like more information contact the Belgrave Trader’s Association on beltraders@westnet.com.au or call 9754 1027.

belgrave traders agm

I have always been a keen supporter of local businesses in my ward. "Shop local" is something I have not only espoused but practiced since I moved to the hills.

Each of the townships in Lyster are varied, offer diverse services and have differing needs, I understand the differences even though some of these townships are geographically close.

Part of my support to traders in the local region extended to me chairing Belgrave Traders Association AGM Election of Office Bearers.

I’m pleased to announce that for 2008/09 the following traders will take office:
President: Donna Burgess (Ample & Reel Café)
Vice President: Gary Felstead (Curves)
Secretary: Rod Kaye (Duncans)
Treasurer: Michael Alexander (Belgrave Dry Cleaners)
General Members:
Lee-Anne Benson (Savvy Organic Pizza)
George Harmon (George Harmon & Associates)
Steve Davies (Hair Down There)
John Ding (Belgrave Licensed Post Office)
Arthur Kyriakos (Belgrave Pharmacy & Bronco Bjelan Chemist)

Congratulations to all elected, I look forward to our continued good working relationship through 2009.


Clean up the Way Day coming, keep posted for more info on clean up Blacksmith's Way - 19th Oct 2008, being organised by the Belgrave Traders Association.