GRACE Buckley is a little girl with a very big voice.
The six-year-old Huntingdale Primary School student was so sick of seeing rubbish on the side of the road as she walked to school that she decided to do something about it.
Grace wrote to the Weekly, calling for people to help fix Monash’s litter problem.
“I am very sad because my suburb is a trashcan and I want to do something about it,” Grace wrote.
“I walk to school every day and I see so much rubbish on my way. I think that Huntingdale is a very dirty place to live in. Please help.”
When sent Grace’s letter, Monash mayor Greg Male visited the grade 1 student, presenting her with a signed poster of the council’s new Don’t Trash Monash logo, and a letter in which he agreed with Grace.
“There are parts of Monash that are very dirty,” he wrote. “While most people do the right thing, there are still some people out there who think that dumping rubbish in their neighbourhood is acceptable.
“We all have to live here and we can’t enjoy our green, leafy suburbs when there’s litter in our street or being dumped in our car parks.
“It’s just not on. If all of your classmates have the same view on our rubbish problems as you, I have high hopes for the future of our wonderful city.”
Cr Male called on Monash residents to do their bit and report litterers. “It’s the responsibility of everyone to say this is not good enough,” he said.
“It takes 10 seconds to litter but about 100 times as long to clean it up. We need more people like Grace to keep the community honest.”
