Whitegoods, shopping trolleys and car parts were unearthed but beverage containers were some of the most common pieces of rubbish collected at Dubbo on Sunday.
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Two skip bins of rubbish were full by the end of the Clean Up Australia Day effort for 2015.
About 70 volunteers lent their time combing the river and its banks, as well as a section of Mugga Hill for litter.
Mary Kovac said she participated in the clean-up because she wanted to improve "our river".
Alongside other members of Dubbo Macquarie River Bush Care she filled the yellow bags and marvelled at signs of river red gum regrowth and other beauties of the natural environment.
She was frustrated by seeing items like a television and a fridge.
"Why do it - you can go to the tip or an appropriate place but people still have to dump them in the river," she said.
Dubbo City Council city presentation team leader Ben Pilon said they had given out 100 bags to the 70 registered volunteers.
At the day's end he reported the majority of rubbish was bottles and cans.
"We found a few empty fridges and freezers," he said.
"And a few car parts - tyres and radiators - out at Mugga Hill.
"The volunteers did a great job as they do every year."
Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi called on the NSW government to speed up implementation of a container deposit scheme.
"Today thousands of volunteers will spend the day picking up rubbish from sites across Australia," Dr Faruqi said.
"Much of this will be beverage containers that have been needlessly thrown into our precious environment."
