The Upper Ovens Valley Landcare Group (UOVLG) hosted a second 'hair-tie hunt' along the banks of the Ovens River and Morses Creek in Bright last Sunday, with approximately 25 people, mostly families, joining in for an hour of hard work to clear the waterway of small pieces of accumulated rubbish.

"We collected about 30 hair ties plus elastic bands, plastic straws, bottle tops and so on; all potential choking hazards for our native wildlife and birds," UOVLG president, Martyn Paterson said.

"Four platypus have died because of hair ties in this area in recent years and we are keen to try to prevent this happening again.

"We need a better management plan for the collection of small plastic items in the riverside parks and a better plan for storm water discharge into the Ovens and Morses Creek, which washes plastics from the street gutters into the water.

"Naturally, we will continue our voluntary work and will assist Alpine Shire Council in any way we can to deal with this problem, particularly as the number of visitors to this area increases."

Mr Paterson said three things were obvious from this latest litter collection: firstly; few, if any riverside visitors have seen the warning sign of the danger of discarded hair ties, secondly; the sign in Centenary Park needed to be relocated to a more prominent position and finally; a second sign should be erected in Howitt Park.