The nation's vast network of outback tracks may hold a special place in the hearts and minds of intrepid Australians, but many would be shocked to discover they can be littered with all kinds of rubbish.

Key points: The Great Tracks Cleanup Crew of volunteers aims to clear rubbish once a year

The Great Tracks Cleanup Crew of volunteers aims to clear rubbish once a year This year the crew collected 358 whole tyres as well as televisions, stoves, and stereos

This year the crew collected 358 whole tyres as well as televisions, stoves, and stereos Ill-equipped rubbish trucks cannot service bins on unsealed roads

Televisions, old stereo units, tyres, and other rubbish are a disappointing eyesore on many of these tracks.

Mother-of-two Kate Litchfield, who lives at Mount Lyndhurst Station in South Australia and helps manage operations, is no stranger to rubbish blowing onto the property.

She often finds cans, bottles, fast food wrappers, and even toilet paper strewn near the homestead and along the Strzelecki Track, which is less than a kilometre away.

"We've seen lots of toilet paper that's been left when people go to the toilet near the road, which is very unattractive," Ms Litchfield said.

"Occasionally we'll find fast food wrappers even though the nearest fast food chain is many hours away."

Clean-up crew clears 50 tonnes

Ms Litchfield drives along the Strzelecki Track twice a day to get her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Olivia, and her six-year-old son, Sydney, to school at Leigh Creek.

"I'm pretty lucky in that the kids have been brought up looking for cans and bottles for 10 cents so I think they're a little bit blown away," she said.

The Great Tracks Clean-up Crew clear one outback track in South Australia every year. ( Supplied: Great Tracks Cleanup Crew )

This year, the Great Tracks Cleanup Crew cleared more than 50 tonnes of rubbish from the Strzelecki Track in South Australia's outback.

The crew spent seven days on the road, picking up rubbish from Quorn to Lyndhurst and along the Track.

Track coordinator, Stuart Paxton, said each year the amount of tourist rubbish was increasing.

"We picked up 358 whole tyres [and] 70 per cent of those would've been heavy truck tyres," Mr Paxton said.

"With the general rubbish, steel and recyclables, there were 53 tonnes [of waste] we delivered to Moomba and Leigh Creek recycling depots."

The Great Tracks Clean-up Crew has so far cleared more than 700 tonnes of rubbish from tracks and highways in SA. ( Supplied: Great Tracks Cleanup Crew )

Dumped tyres and other rubbish

The Great Tracks Clean-up Crew was formed in 2007 and each year, they choose an outback track to focus on.

This year's clean up uncovered some interesting finds.

"At Wilochra Creek bridge, it was like someone pulled up onto it and dumped about 30 or 40 tyres off the top," he said.

"A couple of stoves, televisions and stereo systems were also dumped off the bridge.

"It took five crews an hour and a half to clean all that area up.

"We also found, 200 kilometres north of Lyndhurst, 30-odd truck tyres were dumped behind a sand dune."

The Strzelecki Track is almost 500 kilometres of unsealed road and a links Lyndhurst to Innamincka. ( ABC North and West: Gary-Jon Lysaght )

Remoteness means solution difficult

In SA's outback, bins and dumping points are not common sights.

Mr Paxton said that due to the "tyranny of distance" related to being in the outback, it was not possible to put rubbish bins out there.

"If it was a bitumen highway then they could easily put in large steel bins," he said.

"But a rubbish truck going up the Strzelecki or the Birdsville or Oodnadatta tracks would just about fall to pieces on the corrugations.

"Until the roads are bituminised, it's not a cost-effective way."

The crew spent seven days on the road filling up their trailers with rubbish. ( Supplied: Great Tracks Cleanup Crew )

The logistics of clean-up

This year's clean-up involved 28 volunteers, 10 four-wheel-drives with trailers and a camp kitchen.

"Each vehicle covered approximately 1,645 kilometres," Mr Paxton said.

"When you put that together with the 11 vehicles, which includes our truck with the camp kitchen, we travelled 18,095 kilometres."

Seven years after the group was formed, they decided to start monitoring how many tyres they were collecting.

"We've already picked up 2,623 whole tyres since 2014," Mr Paxton said.

The crew started collecting rubbish in Quorn before heading up the Strzelecki Track. ( Supplied: Great Tracks Cleanup Crew )

Frustrating endeavour as rubbish reappears

Despite the group's efforts, Mr Paxton said the amount of waste seemed to be increasing and reappeared just days after having been cleared.

"We drove back not picking up because we'd already done it and the amount of rubbish that we were seeing within five or 10 kilometres of Lyndhurst was just disgusting," he said.

"It's an eyesore in an iconic area."

However, a rewarding part of the clean-up was being able to recycle the materials they collected.

"One of our sponsors, Santos, transport all the tyres down to Adelaide and they have them all recycled and melted down and used to make roads and other products," Mr Paxton said.

"This year we brought back a lot of steel ourselves so we could cash in at Port Augusta and get a bit of funds back into our accounts because we're all volunteers."

Flocks of tourists in ill-equipped cars are rushing to get to Ayers Rock before the climbing ban comes into effect. ( ABC News: Neda Vanovac )

Rush to beat Uluru climbing ban

There is concern tourists are littering the Oodnadatta Track with tyres as traffic increases prior to the Uluru climbing ban later this year.

"We've been told by a lot of tourists at Innamincka that the Oodnadatta Track is in a fair old mess with tyres because of the amount of people going up to Uluru before the closure in October," Mr Paxton said.

"They're travelling in normal cars, non-four-wheel drives, they get lots of blowouts and tyres are just strewn everywhere.

"That's why we're programming that for early next year."