C'mon Aussies – help clean up | Coolum News | Local News in Coolum

Rain hail or shine, Australia, or at least north of the Maroochy River, will be clean by Sunday afternoon.

That’s the plan for Shannon Embery, who has co-ordinated, coerced and cajoled local community groups, clubs, business people and school children to Clean Up Australia from Mudjimba to Mt Coolum Shores.

Shannon said it would take more than wet weather to stop the clean-up.

“We will still go ahead if it is raining – unless of course it is flooding and dangerous,” she said.

Clean-up sites around Coolum and Peregian have also been organised by individual volunteers and community groups.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Clean Up Australia campaign, begun by builder and solo yachtsman Ian Kiernan, who is the chairman of the organisation.

Kiernan launched the event around Australia in 1990, urging people to make a difference by cleaning up their local areas for a couple of hours.

Since then, his simple idea has evolved to be Australia’s largest community-based environmental event.

In 2009 alone, almost 630,000 volunteers participated in the event and 7000 sites were registered for Clean Up Australia Day.

“Clean Up Australia Day is a fantastic, fun event where everyone in the local community can come together and pick up rubbish to conserve the environment,” Kiernan said.

“Just one piece of rubbish can make a difference and ensure your favourite local

beaches and parks stay clean for the future.”

About 40% of all rubbish collected during last year’s Clean Up Australia Day was beverage related.

In his report following the 2009 clean-up, Kiernan called for a national container deposit scheme, similar to that operating in South Australia.

“South Australia has already taken the lead and introduced its own 10-cent refund, with great success,” he said.

“South Australia enjoys a recycling rate of cans and bottles of between 75-85% while the rate in other states is less than half this.

“Each year on Clean Up Australia Day, volunteers find themselves removing tonnes and tonnes of beverage containers and related rubbish from our environment – all of which could and should be recycled.

“A national scheme would see a significant increase in recycling and recovery of beverage containers, a 25% reduction in our total volume of rubbish, a 6% reduction in municipal waste to landfill, not to mention the job creation and greenhouse gas reductions.”

Top 10 rubbish Items

1. Cigarette butts

2. Glass alcohol bottles

3. Aluminium alcohol cans

4. Glass pieces

5. Plastic chips and confectionery bags

6. Plastic bottle caps

7. Small paper pieces

8. Soft drink cans

9. Plastic PET drink containers

10. Foil confectionery wrappers