Newcastle Rotary Club volunteers collected 20 bags of rubbish from the mangrove forest at Carrington as part of Clean Up Australia Day.
They were among hundreds of volunteers who spent their Sunday morning cleaning up dozens of sites across the Lower Hunter.
Plastic bottles and packaging, aluminium cans, polystyrene and hypodermic needles once again featured prominently at the Carrington site.
A suspected package of drugs was also found and disposed of.
Site coordinator Ted Lewis said the installation of trash racks upstream in Throsby Creek had helped capture a significant quantity of pollution.
"They have stopped an enormous amount of rubbish. Most of the stuff we have picked up today has got in after those points, " Mr Lewis said.
Clean Up Australia Day is the largest volunteer led environmental event across the nation and is widely regarded as the most practical way to educate and demonstrate litter prevention.
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan said more than 750,000 people had helped clean up more than 10,000 clean up sites on Sunday.
"As we continue to navigate our national waste challenges, the commitment of our amazing volunteers remains essential. Not only are they picking up litter, but their efforts also expose challenges with new waste streams as they emerge," Ms Kiernan said.
"For every piece of litter collected, it is one less in our natural surroundings. Soft plastic pieces, cigarette butts, vapes and single-use plastic beverage bottles are amongst the commonly reported items collected by volunteers who are encouraged at each site to report their findings and you can't help but be shocked by the scale of what ends up in our environment as litter.
"By rolling up our sleeves and witnessing the large quantity as well as the common types of litter lining our streets, bushlands and waterways, we can gain a better insight into our own personal or household footprint on the environment. It encourages each of us to consider practical ways we can prevent that litter in the first place."
