Gatherings at Sydney’s major beaches may be limited after Bronte Beach was completely trashed by thousands of people on Christmas Day.
Waverley Council mayor Paula Masselos slammed revellers after the beachside park was left littered with garbage for the local council workers and volunteers to clean up late on Sunday night and again early Monday morning.
“I’m really appalled and extremely disappointed,” she said, per The Daily Telegraph.
“What we saw … was a complete disregard not only for our beautiful open spaces but for our visitors and residents and for the local community who was left with the mess to clean up.”
Cr Masselos said extra staff had been rostered on to try and keep things under control on the day at Bronte beach but the number of people was so massive it was hard to keep a lid on it. She said the council is considering alternatives to manage the festive crowds in the future if people can’t behave or clean up after themselves.
“I really don’t want to have to consider putting limitations on that but if people don’t do the right thing we’ll have to look at alternative ways of managing things,” she said.
Hopefully, this situation won’t spark a booze ban like Coogee copped back in 2016 after a similarly-sized festive hoon.
Bronte Surf Lifesaving Club member David Stone told The Daily Telegraph the mess was some of the worst he’d seen in the last 20 years and spent time picking up bottles, clothing, food, broken glass and “drug paraphernalia”. He said he was worried the aftermath of the first beachside Christmas back after the COVID shutdowns would mean the foreshore may become a ticketed space for future major holiday events.
“It would be a shame and I would hate to see it fenced and pay for entry at prime times but people need to take responsibility for their rubbish,” he said.
Honestly, it’s really not that hard to take your trash with you on the way home from a beach hoon. Don’t be a garbage grinch and spoil it for everyone, yeah?
