Plastics accounted for 25 per cent of ALL rubbish along WA country roads, with fast food packaging and paper and cardboard being the other major items making up 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

Perth Clean Up Coordinator, Maureen McDaniell believes the results of the report present clear evidence that when it comes to refreshing ourselves with beverages such as soft drinks in aluminium cans, beer in cans and bottles, and beverages in cardboard cartons, we are not motivated to dispose of them appropriately.

Ms McDaniell suggested two core circumstances needed to change, to tackle the recurrence of such appalling statistics gathered from Western Australian country roads.

Ms McDaniell called for a collaborative effort to tackle these problems and recommended a joint pubic awareness and education campaign, bringing together private, government and non?government sectors.

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Cleaning Up Australia Fact Sheet

 

WOW

Over 4 million people have participated in Clean Up Australia Day since its inception ? and if each person gave up just two hours, that is equivalent to one person working on the environment for 1 million days or 2740 years!

Over the past 11 years volunteers on Clean Up Australia Day have collected 150,000 tonnes of rubbish, which adds up to approximately four million wheelie bins of waste!

WEIRD

Over the past eleven years Clean Up Australia volunteers have collected a wide array of weird and wacky items including: blow up dolls, bound and gagged gnomes, a microwave up a tree, people sleeping in after a 'big night", messages in a bottle and a bed fully made up in the middle of a paddock.

WONDERFUL

Australian should be extremely proud that we are playing an important role internationally in relation to environmental issues. In 1993 Clean Up Australia was exported internationally and become Clean Up the World, which is now one of the biggest environmental activities in the world involving over 35 million people in more than 105 countries.

 

WHERE

Clean Up Australia sites can be found anywhere in Australia and abroad. In 1999 Clean Up sites ranged from Australian bases in Antarctica, to Bougainville, where the multi?national Truce Monitoring Group was stationed, and from the top of Mt Kosciusko to the Cocos Keeling Islands off Western Australia.

 

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY 2000 - Rubbish Facts From 1999

		The 1999 Rubbish Report found that 12, 000 tonnes of rubbish were collected from 8,700 official sites around Australia. It is of concern that the majority of rubbish was recyclable.
		Plastic continues to be the major contributor, representing 37% of the total rubbish collected. The next most common item on the list was paper/cardboard.
		28% of plastic rubbish was chip and confectionary packaging.
		A list of the "10 Least Wanted Items" is compiled by Clean Up Australia for the Rubbish Report each year with cigarette butts being the main offender, accounting for 24% of total rubbish.
		Beaches, waterways and parklands were the most littered and polluted sites. In comparison with 1998 figures, less rubbish was featured along roadways in 1999.
		Items commonly found were food packaging bags, glass pieces, glass alcohol bottles, small paper pieces, plastic straws and soft drink bottles, both plastic and metal. 44% of the wood items collected were Ice Cream Sticks.
		Supermarket plastic bags have re-entered the "10 Least Wanted Items" and as a result, Clean Up Australia has developed a Waste Reduction Accreditation Program for Retailers (WRAP) to counter the high prevalence of plastic rubbish in the environment.
		Clean Up Australia Day 2000 campaign will specifically target waterways, beaches and recyclable plastics.
		Australians are the second highest waste producers in the world, second only to Americans.

Next: Resource Sheet 3 - Typical Clean Up Day Sites