‘Massive' is the only word that can be used to describe a community clean-up which took place in Oropi.

Inspired by two photos posted to Facebook in August, an estimated 150 people spent four hours on Sunday picking up a whopping 740kg of rubbish that'd been dumped over the years in and around Oropi.

Oropi locals Tracey McCall and Trish Broughton with a car windscreen which has been waiting eleven years to be hauled from its spot just over the edge of Mountain Road. Photo: Jan Pendergrast.

'Plus all the recycling and hundreds of kilograms of rubbish residents have disposed of themselves, we put a conservative guess at 1000kg - a ton!” says clean-up co-organiser Moana Bainchin.

'What a great effort and result for our community today. It shows us what can be achieved if we all stand together as a community.”

While wading through trash on your hands and knees isn't an ideal way of celebrating your birthday –that's exactly what Jan Pendergrast did.

She says they collected some interesting rubbish over the course of four hours, like the car windscreen that'd been dumped down on bank on Mountain Road about 11 years ago.

'Some rubbish we had to leave as it was too far down banks and unsafe to retrieve. Despite the day being rather damp we did enjoy ourselves, and what a way to spend a birthday,” says Jan.

Organisers of last Sunday's Oropi clean-up, from left: Julia Graham, Moana Bianchin and Heili Swart. Supplied Photo.

Moana says the day wrapped up with a BBQ and swim at the Oropi Hot Pools – the perfect way to finish what was a very busy day for the team.

'Another resident told me they could even feel the difference when they drove from home to the pools, the grass was definitely greener.”

But unfortunately there's a sad footnote to this story.

'Just the day after our clean up, fresh rubbish had been dumped in the Oropi Gorge and on Mountain Road,” says Moana.

The army of 150 cleaners finished the day with a BBQ down at Oropi Hot Pools. From left, Graham and Leanne Reeves, Michelle Barrett, Mark Mear and son (standing) Jan and Hans Pendergrast. Supplied Photo.