A platypus has been found entangled in plastic after rubbish from the council tip was discharged into the Hobart Rivulet over the weekend.
Pete Walsh discovered the platypus while photographing other platypuses in the area on Tuesday.
Walsh spent two and a half hours searching for the platypus, eventually finding her and removing the plastic shortly after 10am yesterday.
More trash from fallen rubbish bins had made its way into the water after another blast of strong winds overnight, which the team will continue to clean in the coming days.
Tuesday: Hobart Platypus advocates devastated as trash from tip pollutes rivulet
A group dedicated to protecting platypuses in the Hobart Rivulet is devastated after a severe storm on Saturday night sent a ‘significant amount’ of rubbish from a nearby tip into the waterway.
Pete Walsh from the Hobart Rivulet Platypus group has said while no injured platypuses have been reported, previous incidents have harmed these animals.
He says much of the photographed rubbish, spanning 180 metres, originated from outfalls behind Degraves Street in South Hobart and can be traced back to the nearby McRobies Tip site.
“The city tip has been polluting the Hobart Rivulet for decades,” Walsh wrote online.
“Why do we continue to abuse this waterway and the animals that live in it?”
The Hobart City Council, through Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and chair of the city water committee Ben Lohberger, has acknowledged the ‘unacceptable’ amount of plastic in the rivulet.
They are calling for an investigation, possible infrastructure improvements and clean-up events in the aftermath of extreme weather events.
The pair said while soft plastics can enter the rivulet from various directions during extreme weather, the Council-owned landfill at McRobies Gully tip is likely the primary source of this plastic pollution.
The council claims that strategies to mitigate loose plastic were implemented at the landfill prior to the recent weather event, but acknowledged that it was ‘unrealistic’ to contain all rubbish in the site.
A long-term solution to prevent plastic from escaping the landfill involves its permanent closure, a step already included in the ongoing closure plan set for 2030.
