Just for fun: Narre Warren’s Colin Smith cleans up on Ernst Wanke Road.
By Kelly Yates
A NARRE Warren man is Ernst Wanke Road’s unofficial rubbish collector.
Dressed in his Steve Urwin outfit and wearing a floppy hat, Colin Smith, 37, walks up and down a two-kilometre stretch of Ernst Wanke Road every night picking up rubbish.
“People probably think I’m a council worker but I’m not, I’m just a local resident,” he said.
“I spend an hour every night picking up the rubbish. I do it for fun.”
On average Mr Smith fills two wheelie bins a week.
He started the rubbish collecting in December last year when he moved to Narre Warren.
“When we first came here it looked like a tip site. It was awful,” he said.
“Now it looks extremely good, as long as I maintain it.”
Mr Smith picks up broken glass from cars that have been involved in accidents, cigarette butts and food wrappers.
“I once found a used nappy and often find used tissues,” he said.
Mr Smith says he understands that other people have busy lifestyles, so he does it himself after his part time job at a recycling plant.
“I consider the neighbourhood as being my child so I lead by example,” he said.
He has received encouraging waves from bypasses on a number of occasions.
“I appreciate being appreciated by the community.”
Mr Smith said he would like some local volunteers to lend a hand.
“The more people who pitch in and help, the more we can maintain the cleanliness,” he said.
“When I’m gone, I want to leave a legacy of the environment being clean rather than a mess.”
