Queenslanders urged to join 25th Clean Up Australia Day

Published Friday, 27 February, 2015 at 05:00 PM

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef
The Honourable Steven Miles

Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles has urged Queenslanders to get behind this year’s Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event by collecting a load of litter or rubbish.

Dr Milles will join the Save Our Waterways Now Clean Up Australia Day activity at Dawn Street, Bardon, on Sunday morning.

Prior to that he will attend the launch of a Healthy Waterways event at Murrarie, which will involve a clean-up of the Bulimba catchment of the Brisbane River.

“I know that all over Queensland there will be similar activities going on as communities get together for a big push to reduce the amount of litter and rubbish in their local area,” Dr Miles said.

From small beginnings 25 years ago, Clean Up Australia Day has grown to become an annual fixture on the national calendar.

Dr Miles said in spite of the success of the Clean Up Australia campaign, littering remained a huge problem in Queensland.

“That’s why I’m urging Queenslanders to make every day a Clean Up day.  By disposing properly of our litter and taking responsibility for our own backyard we can make a real difference in terms of keeping our State clean,” he said.

Dr Miles said roadside littering continued to be a major eyesore in Queensland. A partnership between the State Government, local councils, the Queensland Murray Darling Committee and the National Packaging Covenant Industry Association was one of a number of government initiatives to encourage a change in the attitude and behaviour of litterbugs.

EHP is working with its partners to reduce the problem by identifying and targeting behavioural trigger points which make it easy or acceptable for people to litter.

The South West Regional Roadside Litter Program, for example, is focusing on six main highways in the Darling Downs and Surat Basin areas. The first stage is to conduct an audit to assess the extent of the problem. 

ENDS

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