The environmental group has been recognised for their 'Pick Up Sticks' campaign, to collect plastic cotton bud sticks from south-west beaches in the Clean Beach/Waterways Award and the Litter Prevention Award categories.

Colleen Hughson said it was an honour to be nominated.

"It's great for all of the volunteer's hard work over the last two years to be acknowledged," Ms Hughson said.

"If we can raise more awareness of some of the issues we have here such as the cotton buds and nurdle pollution that is a great thing."

Ms Hughson said she looked forward to attending the award ceremony so she could network with other groups working on similar issues and talk to people who could change legislation to resolve these problems.

"The faster we can make changes to issues such as outfall filtration the faster we will be able to resolve these environmental problems," Ms Hughson said.

Keep Victoria Beautiful program manager Gary Mogford said Beach Patrol had been recognised as a finalist because of their persistence and people doing work with no benefit to themselves but to the environment in general.

"The Tidy Town awards are aimed at recognising work done by community and volunteers across rural Victoria," Mr Mogford said.

"Marine debris and rubbish has become a big issue in recent times.

"This is an anti-litter activity and litter is one of the key issues for Keep Victoria Beautiful.

"There is excellent work being done across the state, and unfortunately we think we pick up just a small percentage of the work that is being done.

"Largely work being done by volunteers goes unnoticed and unrecognised, that's what these awards are about - recognising the good work done by volunteers."

Volunteers working with Beach Patrol 3280-3284 spend at least one hour each month collecting rubbish from beaches around the south-west. They also work to raise community awareness of marine debris and collect data to help trace rubbish back to it's source.

Beach Patrol 3280-3284 have also been nominated in the Parks Victoria Environmental Sustainability Awards, and Ms Hughson has been nominated as a finalist in the Premier's Sustainability Awards for her work with Good Will Nurdle Hunting.

Winners in all three awards will be announced in October. For information on volunteering with Beach Patrol 3280-3284 visit www.beachpatrol.com.au.

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