A FED up Hawkesbury resident has taken it upon himself to clean up Windsor Beach and Macquarie Park, which he says is frequently used as a dumping ground for rubbish.
Darryl Willcox has lived in the Hawkesbury for 60 years, and most mornings can be spotted walking his German Shepherd Marley along the beach.
Over the past five or six years, the amount of rubbish dumped on the beach has grown and grown according to Mr Willlcox, and recently he picked up enough rubbish to fill eight plastic bags.
Used nappies, crushed water bottles and McDonalds cups littered Macquarie Park when this reporter met Mr Willcox there.
Mr Willcox said he also found fishing line quite regularly.
The rubbish is not all the fault of locals either. Mr Willcox said he found receipts, along with the rubbish, which were often from places like Penrith, Doonside and Winston Hills to name a few, although he was quick to point out he was not trying to single out those areas.
Mr Willcox said the rubbish marred what ought to be one of the nicer family areas in the Hawkesbury.
“It makes me very angry, I just can't stand to see the environment treated this way,” said Mr Willcox.
“It is just disgusting. People are just giving up and leaving their crap behind and moving on.”
The rubbish has become so bad, Mr Willcox often dons a pair of plastic gloves and takes a plastic bag down to the beach and cleans up.
“I've had a lot of support from other people who think what I do is great,” he said.
“At the same time, I probably shouldn't have to do it. We used to have what we called Emu parades at school, where we would go around and clean up the school.
“It is just irresponsible people. It is not educating their children, the little ones will see their parents leaving a nappy behind. What sort of example does that set to leave behind the rubbish for someone else to clean up.”
The rubbish is often worst after a public holiday, such as the upcoming Australia Day, according to Mr Willcox.
He said he thought Hawkesbury Council did a good job maintaining the place, keeping the toilets clean and emptying the provided bins often.
He said a few extra bins on days like Australia Day, when more people were sure to be at the beach would not go astray, however, it might be all for nought.
“I am finding even if the bins are provided, the majority of people aren't using them,” he said.
