Tracking for change - Hey Tosser! takes to the water

The launch of the tracked bottles coincides with the autumn burst of the successful Hey tosser! campaign, and the anti-littering message is already spreading through posters on bus stops, signage at train stations, and through television advertisements.

We are working to a target of reducing litter by 40% by 2020 – a Premier’s priority – and are on track with litter down by 19% in the past two years. Litter is an expensive problem. Around 25,000 tonnes of litter is tossed in NSW each year, costing councils and the EPA more than $180 million to manage. But the people of NSW are on board for change – Since the Report to EPA program launched in 2015, 22,000 people across NSW have registered with Report to EPA, more than 27,000 reports have been made, and nearly 18,000 fines have been issued.

Minister Upton officially launched the tracked bottle campaign in Parramatta in late March, “tossing” a tracked bottle into the Parramatta River where it promptly flowed downstream.

Already the stories of the bottles are beginning to take shape. Bottle #07 made its way from Green Point Park in Vaucluse to Watsons Bay, then shot out through the heads of Sydney Harbour and travelled down the coast to Cronulla, where it washed ashore and was collected by a delighted park ranger.

Other bottles are also making interesting journeys, showing that the passage of litter is determined by a number of factors including tides, wind, rain, and harbour traffic. Bottle #L08 has journeyed from Vaucluse to Taronga Zoo, bottle #L11 lodged itself on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, bottle #L40 is moving hastily down the Hawkesbury River, and bottle #L21 is travelling along Mullet Creek near Dapto.

The bottles will stay in the water until the end of April. You can track the passage of the bottles on the Don't be a Tosser! Facebook page. And if you find a bottle, follow the instructions printed on the side and ‘toss” it back in – we want to see how far this “litter” will travel.