Shocking images of disgusting find in Melbourne river

Melbourne’s Yarra isn’t known for being clean at the best of times, but some of the items lurking below the water may surprise you.

Bikes, e-bikes, laundry baskets, shopping trolleys, traffic cones and tyres were just some of the items pulled from the iconic Melbourne river on Friday morning, with workers loading the massive pile of rotting rubbish onto a Southbank dock.

Hundreds of e-bikes have ended up in the bottom of the Yarra since the bike share service was introduced to Melbourne streets in 2010, with multiple attempts at getting the public transport service up and running failing to take off in the southern city.

But these bulky bits of river rubbish aren’t the only unwanted squatters inhabiting the iconic river.

Up to three billion pieces of litter or approximately 2000 to 3000 tonnes is washed into Melbourne’s waterways through stormwater drains every year, with a whopping 31,000 pieces of litter removed from the Yarra’s Edge Marina and Harbour Esplanade every month.

Parks Victoria has installed 18 litter traps along the Yarra to prevent trash entering the river from stormwater drains and ending up in Port Phillip Bay.

They are emptied once or twice a week, according to the City of Melbourne.

Polystyrene is the most prevalent item of rubbish choking the river, with a study released earlier this year on the harms of the micro-plastic determining the waste is both “widespread and devastating” for the river and Port Phillip Bay.

It is estimated that more than 382 million pieces of the toxic plastic enter the Yarra River every year.

Composed of hazardous chemicals, scientists are concerned that polystyrene could cause harm to a variety of species living in and around the Yarra.

Platypus, kangaroos, fish, eels, frogs, bandicoots, hares, turtles and lizards are just some of the animals found on the Yarra River, which consists of 50 tributaries, according to the Melbourne Water Corporation.

More than one-third of Victoria’s population lives in the 4000 square kilometre Yarra catchment.