The former aged care worker who grew up in the bush, south of the city, used to notice rubbish thrown on the side of the highway on her way to work. Now she lives in Dubbo and has recently taken time off work which she uses as an opportunity to stroll around the area.

"It's only in the last month that I have found myself walking a lot more, and taking a bag to stop and pick things up," Ms Kneale told Daily Liberal.

On her walks, she has come across takeaway containers, food wrapping paper, nappies, and plastic cups and straws that people had thrown out of their cars. She had also picked up cigarette butts and golf tees.

She then posted photos of the rubbish she had collected on social media which prompted responses from other locals who had been doing the same.

"I think putting photos up on the community page showed people that... imagine what Dubbo would look like if the rubbish was there and kept building up. The other thing is the health of our river. Macquarie River is what makes Dubbo Dubbo."

READ ALSO:

Ms Kneale also mentioned there were many locals, like the Dubbo Rivercare group, who looked after the river. Volunteers had put nets in place to stop trash from flowing downstream during periods of rain.

She said that residents frequented the river for leisure activities like fishing and dragon boat racing. According to her, it's a beautiful river which is also home to a lot of fish, and needs to be kept that way.

Ms Kneale also recalled times where she saw dog poo which was not properly collected and discarded, around the eastern side of the river, near the footbridge.

"I stopped walking along there. There's not enough bins.. so people tend not to worry about it. They're not going to walk for kilometres carrying [dog poo]. I think there should be more bins along that walk."

Ms Kneale said there were not enough bins in Dubbo, in general.

"I saw there's [a bin] on the street outside KFC, on the corner of Cobra and Darling. I [thought], 'Wow, there's a bin'. There's not very many of them around the streets... but it's also a very big job for the council to go and empty them," she said.

Do you have something to say? Submit a letter to the editor