Clean Up Australia Day registrations are now open, with Paradise Street in Highgate Hill and Hockings Street in South Brisbane hosting events on Sunday 3 March.
Businesses are encouraged to focus action on Clean Up Day, Tuesday 26 February, with schools running their own Clean Up on Friday 1 March and youth and community groups taking to their streets over the weekend of 2 to 3 March. Participating in one or more of these events is the perfect opportunity to join with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues to remove all the rubbish accumulating in your local park, bushland, beaches and waterways before it kills our wildlife.
Urging individuals and groups to continue the impetus that Clean Up founder Ian Kiernan AO created through his efforts Terrie-Ann Johnson, Managing Director of Clean Up Australia, is keen to remind us that every Clean Up volunteer is Ian’s successor – and that any change starts with you. “Clean Up Australia Day is the nation’s largest community mobilisation event, and 2019 is the perfect time to band together in Ian’s honour, celebrate what has been achieved, show your support for his vision and o continue his dream to Clean Up Australia,” said Terrie-Ann. “Ian firmly believed that every single one of us can and should make a difference. Volunteer action was his amazingly simple idea, his dream and his inspiration. His passion was working alongside his fellow Aussies as we clean up our environment and/or reduce waste before it is a problem. Moving into the future I urge all Australians to take up the challenge – become Ian’s successor and continue the momentum he fostered.
“Change starts with you. The key to success is stopping litter becoming rubbish. There are so many actions every one of us can take to help reduce the 8 million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans worldwide each year. So why not book-mark today in your journey and join us for a 2019 Clean Up.”
If picking up Rubbish is not your thing, you can still be involved by making a donation. Clean Up Australia is owned by the community with 100 per cent of funds raised through donation allocated to the purchase of materials provided free of charge to community, school and youth groups across the nation all year round. “So, whether you are going to make a donation or get together to clean up your local environment –change starts with you!”
Over the past 29 years volunteers have donated more than 33 million hours, at more than 178,000 locations across the country. Together they have removed the equivalent of 350 thousand ute loads of rubbish across Australia.
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