Clean Up Australia Day 2018 preliminary results released

The 2018 Clean Up Australia day preliminary results have been released, with an estimated 587,962 volunteers pitching in to remove litter.

The current in progress data estimates volunteers have removed almost 16,000 ute loads of rubbish over the week surrounding the event.

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Parkes, beaches, waterways, bushlands and roadways were among the 7253 locations were registered and cleaned.

According to Clean Up Australia day, this is a 14 per cent increase in sites and four per cent increase in volunteers over 2017.

The event began 28 years ago, and has since then removed the equivalent of 350,000 ute loads of rubbish from over 170,000 sites across Australia.

Chairman and Founder of Clean Up Australia Ian Kiernan AO speaking from the 2018 Clean Up Day official site in Brisbane, said how proud he was to see so many Australians continuing to rally to the cause.

“It’s really great to see so many people passionate about removing rubbish from the places that are important to them,” Mr Kiernan said.

“Because that’s the beauty of a Clean Up – people tell us where the rubbish is accumulating and we give them the support to make a difference. Young or old – anyone can be involved.”

“But we need to do much more than just pick up rubbish one day a year. Every day is Clean Up Australia Day – so let today simply be the start of your Clean Up journey,” he said.

Mr Kiernan said making a difference begins with changing consumer’s purchasing behaviour, becoming conscious of single use products, packaging and plastics.

“We need to continue to challenge our governments to implement effective waste management and recycling programs to reduce the amount of wasted resource that ends up in our precious environment. Our Clean Up activities provide vital community led data and feedback that influences decision makers,” he said.

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