MORE than 500 people at Cronulla agreed to "take the pledge" when a new anti-litter campaign was launched on the weekend.
The Keep NSW Beautiful initiative was designed to raise awareness of the litter problem and get people to take personal responsibility for their rubbish.
Hundreds of volunteers at beaches along the NSW coast asked people to add their names to the list.
A campaign spokeswoman said 520 pledges were made at Cronulla in a few hours on Saturday morning, with results to be collated from other locations.
"Many people pointed out that Cronulla is a pretty litter-free beach," she said.
"We will be glad to use that as an example of how a community, when they value their communal spaces and recreation areas, can change behaviour.
"We would like to see this happening in more places."
The spokeswoman said Take the Pledge events would be held throughout next year and would include different kinds of venues.
People could sign up online, she said.
SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS
Woolooware High student representative council members were among volunteers who were involved in collecting pledges on the beach and in the mall.
‘‘Working alongside Channel 7’s Mark Ferguson and Home and Away cast members, the students along with teachers Mr [Kieran] Monahan, Mr [Scott] Donaghy and school principal Ms [Marianne] Siokos, had a wonderful and rewarding day reaching out to the community and standing up for such a great cause,’’ Daniella Luchi wrote to the Leader.
‘‘It would be great to see more people supporting such a great initiative and keeping our beaches clean.’’
Do you think this is a good initiative?