By Gabriella Payne
What started out over 30 years ago as a simple idea to help clean up a local neighbourhood has since grown into the country’s largest community based environmental event, and this Sunday 7 March, it’s happening again – that’s right, it’s Clean Up Australia Day!
Community members from far and wide are being encouraged to put on some gloves, grab a bag and help pick up rubbish in their local communities this Sunday, as Clean Up Australia Day events around the country encourage and inspire people to help do their bit for environmental conservation.
Over the past 30 years that the event has been running, more than 18 million volunteers have donated their time to help collect the equivalent of more than 380,000 ute loads of rubbish that was littered through the landscape, and locals hope that they can help remove even more this weekend.
Pakenham’s Lakeside residents are invited to join the clean up crew meeting at Dragon Park at 10am on Sunday morning, which will run until 1pm and includes a free BBQ afterwards for all involved.
Secretary of the Pakenham Lakeside Residents’ Group, Tony O’Hara, said that everyone was welcome to come along and help pick up some rubbish, as they work towards a “cleaner and healthier” community.
“Everyone is welcome to come down and it will be great to do something good for the environment,” Mr O’Hara said.
“We will be focusing on the lakeside ponds and reserve and hope to get some rubbish out of the waterways.”
Mr O’Hara said that there were many reasons that Lakeside residents were motivated to take part in Clean Up Australia Day this year, mainly to help “protect the environment” and “prevent animals from getting hurt with waste”, but said that it was also nice to look after the appearance of the local area.
“I haven’t seen any great masses of rubbish in the area, but it’s surprising how much you do find when you look,” Mr O’Hara said.
“There are little things scattered around everywhere, and it all adds up.
Clean Up Australia Day is a big reminder more than anything else that we should all be doing our part to help the natural environment,” he said.
Mr O’Hara said that the collected rubbish on Sunday would be gathered at Dragon Park and picked up by the Cardinia Shire Council the following day, ensuring it was disposed of properly.
James Link, the Head of Partnerships for Landcare Australia said that many Landcare groups across the country would be running similar events “to encourage locals to get involved in cleaning up their own areas”, including the Cardinia Landcare group, who will be meeting at the Beaconsfield tennis courts at 9am on Sunday.
Glenn Brooks-MacMillan from the Cardinia Landcare group said that the Beaconsfield event had been running “for many years” and was a collaborative effort between Landcare and Friends of Cardinia Creek Sanctuary.
“Every year we set up a tent and people come along and we pick up heaps of rubbish,” Mr Brooks-MacMillan said.
Whilst he still hoped for a good turn out this Sunday, Mr Brooks-MacMillan said that being the long weekend, he expected many people would be getting out of the city for a mini-break, especially after last year’s lockdowns.
“We usually get anywhere from 20-30 people coming along, and even that results in sometimes 30 bags of rubbish,” he said.
“And Sunday is currently looking good weather wise and everyone is welcome to come along.
It will be very casual and people can come and go – it all makes a difference,” Mr Brooks-MacMillan said.
Mr Link also hoped that community members would be making an effort to help with the clean up and said that after Melbournians were forced to stay inside through the lockdowns last year, it was now more important than before to help pick up rubbish in the community.
“During Covid lockdowns in 2020, the opportunity to get out and get involved in large scale clean up events with lots of people was limited, so there has been a larger than normal amount of rubbish build up,” Mr Link said.
“So getting involved this year is all the more important, and there are a number of ways people can do that.”
Mr Link said that community members could ring up their local Landcare group to find out about what events are happening in their area, such as Clean Up Australia Day rubbish pick-ups or weeding and planting days, which help to bring some biodiversity back into built up areas.
Both Mr O’Hara and Mr Link encouraged families and kids to get involved as well, as Mr Link said that “instilling environmental values in the next generation is really important” and it would be a fun, productive day out for everyone.
For more information about Clean Up Australia Day activities going on near you, visit https://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/join-a-clean-up
