A staggering 50 kilograms of rubbish was collected between Strathmore Cr in Kalaru and Thomsons Dr outside Tathra.

The cleanup was organised by local organisation and bike track advocacy group Bega Tathra Safe Ride, ahead of this year’s Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, March 5.

“I know we all take pride in this beautiful place and picking up litter on Clean Up Australia Day, or any other day is a powerful way to back that pride up with real action,” Bega Tathra Safe Ride member Doug Reckord said this week.

“As well as looking after the environment it presents a great image to domestic and international visitors, and that’s a good thing for our tourism industry.”

There are a number of pollution collection events organised for this year, with Bega Tathra Safe Ride organising a meeting point at the corner of Tathra Red and Sapphire Coast Dr at 10am.

A group organised by the Bournda Environmental Education Centre will meet at the same place at 9am, before heading to ​Bournda National Park.

A group is also being organised to meet on Wallagoot Ln at 10am before heading to Turingal Head Rd and also on Kularoo Rd in Barragga Bay.

Tathra Land Care will meet at the Tathra Beach car park at 9am, and will focus on the beach area and sand dunes.

In Bega, a team will meet at the town’s McDonalds store at 9am.

Local schools will take part in Schools Clean Up Day on Friday, March 3.

According to Clean Up Australia, in just the first two months of this year 750,000 volunteers have removed the equivalent of more than 16,000 ute loads of rubbish from 8,205 locations across Australia.

Over the last 26 years, volunteers have collected 331,000 ute loads of rubbish at more than 166,000 locations across the country.