OVER three days last year, an estimated 3306.6 ute loads of rubbish was picked up from public sites in Queensland.

This could have ended up in our oceans, our national parks and sometimes in the creatures that live there.

This is what Clean Up Australia Day aims to stop.

Between February 27 and March 4, up to 4287 groups will get stuck in to help clean up the country, with 117 of these groups on the Sunshine Coast.

The Twin Waters Residents Association is one of the community groups getting involved.

Association member Ed Berry believes it's in the best interests of the community, both helping to unite residents and tackle the environmental problem.

"It brings the people together. It allows people who are new to meet people who have been here some time,” Mr Berry said.

The association has been rolling up their sleeves on Clean Up Australia Day for over 20 years, and have noticed significant changes since they began.

"Early on most of the rubbish was builders rubbish, pieces of timber and all, but in the last few years it's mainly been cans and larger items like lounge suites.”

Often due to fees at the dump, people have resorted to leaving their no longer wanted possessions on the side of the road so someone else takes the responsibility.

This isn't uncommon on the Coast, with fridges popping up in Nambour, and broken exercise equipment appearing in Maroochydore.

"People have decided the place was a dump and left them there, and luckily our volunteers were able to pick them up.” Mr Berry said.

Twin Waters is lucky enough to sit on the water, but this becomes a problem when rubbish from the land ends up in the waterways and can be dangerous for the wildlife.

Luckily, the group has perfected the solution.

"Not only do we clean up the roadways, but we have people going out in kayaks and cleaning up all the rubbish that ends up in the water,” Mr Berry said.

The Twin Waters resident believed shopping bags are one of the largest issues for rubbish in the region, and much of the headache comes from people dropping the single-use plastic.