On the bank of a tributary of the Howard River in Darwin's rural area, surrounded by pristine natural environment and birdsong, Tony O'Malley hangs his head in despair.
"I was somewhat anticipating this," he says.
Mr O'Malley walks the bush tracks around his Howard Springs home each morning.
This creek — a popular dog-walking spot — is known for run-off barramundi fishing and is inhabited by crocodiles.
But the day after Australia Day, he returned with his wife Jenny on a quad bike and trailer to spend an hour removing other people's litter at the beauty spot.
"It looked like the day after an outdoor concert," he says.
Among the alcohol cans and bottles and takeaway packaging was a bicycle, an inflatable boat, a car exhaust system, and plenty of plastic.
"I'm certain stuff made it down the river, judging by the number of bottle caps I fished out of the actual creek itself," Mr O'Malley says.
"The next big rain event comes through and flushes it all out to sea where the turtles can eat it.
"If I hadn't cleaned it up a week ago, we'd come here today and it'd still be there.
"I feel a sense of despair."
Drink cans and food wrappers
Mr O'Malley sorted the rubbish at home and took it to the tip.
The drink containers went to the local Downs Syndrome Association, which collects them and claims the 10c deposit as a fundraiser.
"I see a lot of UDL cans. And I see a lot of sweet drinks," he says.
"On the one hand, there's all these people yelling at us about how we're not looking after their planet. And then on the next hand, they just dropped their plastic food wrapper on the ground.
"Why aren't they thinking?
Mr O'Malley estimates on a normal day he collects a shopping bag of rubbish with his trash tongs on his local morning walks.
"There's the people that just chuck it out the window," he says.
"But there's also an element of uncovered ute trays."
Why do people litter?
University of South Australia law school emeritus professor Rick Sarre says people litter when they don't value something. But there is hope.
"People litter if they think that others have kind of trashed an area or it's not worth preserving," he says.
But if an area is kept spotless ahead of a party, it stands a chance of remaining clean.
"People are not likely to throw the first cup down."
"But if there are already 40 cups there, they'll throw the next 40 cups down, figuring that nice people come and clean it up."
Professor Sarre's advice was for the cleaning Samaritans to spend time at the creek the day before the public holiday — in this case January 25 — and even turn up to the party.
"Every time a little piece lands on the turf, they run up and grab it and put it in a bag," he says.
"That quick little attention to one piece will stop another 99 descending upon it.
"People will always add the trash that's already on the ground, they will not be the first one to throw it down."
Broken windows theory
Professor Sarre cited broken windows theory, where a building with a broken window will continue to see windows broken.
"Make sure that what you've got is — as far as possible — pristine and looking good, because people won't trash it."
He says authorities need to be careful with positioning public bins.
"Bins are funny things. Typically it gets full very quickly and then overflows. People throw stuff onto the overflow and then becomes bigger and bigger."
Three-pronged tongs
Keep Australia Beautiful NT chief executive Heimo Schober is a one-man band in the fight against littering in the NT.
"We seem to do a lot of that, particularly on the public holidays," he says.
"Territory Day is another one of those examples where it seems to be quite acceptable for our society just to leave the rubbish on the beach or in the parks.
"Everybody has to work together and take some ownership and responsibility. We really need to change our attitudes. And the only way to do that is mainly through education and awareness. But education and awareness costs a lot of money.
"We've got the manufacturing industry, the councils, the state and territory governments but also the individuals on board.
"We also need to wake up to ourselves and take some ownership and responsibility".
