Clean Up Australia Day: Time to pick up litter legacy of Covid-19

Two years after Covid came ashore, Australia is awash in discarded single use face masks – part of the focus of this year’s Clean Up Australia Day.

The pandemic has not only changed how we live, but also how we litter.

This Clean Up Australia Day, Sunday 6 March, the focus is on collecting single use face masks.

“We know consumption habits changed over the last two years but unfortunately it hasn’t been kind to the environment,” said Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan.

“There’s been a surge of single use plastic items, such as disposable coffee cups as cafes stopped taking reusable cups, takeaway food packaging, sanitisation wipes and single use masks.

“Face masks are composed of different plastics, such as rubber straps and metal over the nose, and each one takes 450 years to break down. Think of the sheer scale of these; we know they’re a litter problem and this year we’re asking volunteers to count and tally masks so we can have better understanding of how much ends up in the environment.

“The collection of data will be ongoing – there’s an opportunity here so that the next generation of PPE can have a lower environmental footprint.”

Coles Windsor store manager Bryn Shepherd with Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan. Picture: Peter Rae/Coles

Clean Up Australia Day has been going for 33 years and is always held on the first Sunday in March. While one million people participate in events throughout the year, this is the flagship day for the grassroots community event.

Kiernan believes everyone can do something to make a difference, from picking up litter to donating to the organisation and living more sustainably.

“We really want Australians to stop and think about how our habits have changed and see this as an opportunity to reset them so they have the kindest impact on the environment,” she said.

Kiernan points out that even corporations are becoming more environmentally minded.

Chase Lepomme, Deborah Thorne and Danyelle Coonan. Picture: Renae Droop/RDW Photography

“Coles is really making inroads into being more sustainable,” she said.

“It’s great to see them phasing out of stocking single use plastic items such as picnicware. Every bit that we can do has a big impact.

“They’ve been a big support to Clean Up Australia Day. This year and last year they ran the Drop of Good campaign, where Liquorland and First Choice Liquor donate 25c from every customer transaction (on March 5 and 6), and that pays for clean-up kits for our volunteers.

“They’ve also supported us with reusable hessian bags since 2018.”

It’s not too late to join in – you can registerto volunteer on the day.

Towards a Better Future, in conjunction with Coles’ Better Together strategy, shares stories on farming, local communities, health & wellbeing, and sustainability/food waste to shine a light on the people, charities and organisations that are helping make our country a better place.