With the pandemic changing the habits of many people, including reverting back to single use products, the consequences have been felt in the community. As Tara Murray discovers, Clean Up Australia Day presents the perfect opportunity for people to assess their habits and reset after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clean Up Australia is hoping people will rethink their use of single-use products ahead of Clean Up Australia Day on March 6.
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan says there had been a surge of single use litter as a result of the pandemic.
“We are using Clean Up Australia day as a real call to action for people to think about those habits and think about resetting them and adopting those habits we were getting really good at before the pandemic hit,“ she says
“There are masks everywhere. With Coffee cups, we’ve had to go back to using single use cups, we weren’t eating in restaurants so we were doing more takeaway and the rubbish associated with that.
“There’s masks, santised wipes and hand sanitiser bottles and all the plastic packaging.
“We can’t cover up the problem – now is the time to act. Our environmental issues have not gone away because of COVID, rather, they have escalated because of the mountain of rubbish we’ve created.
Part of Clean Up Australia’s focus this year, is a ’citizen science project’ that has been launched to assess the impacts of single-use masks.
Ms Kiernan said in 2020, more than three billion single-use masks were thrown out across the globe every day, contributing to a significant portion of pandemic-related litter entering the environment.
“However, locally, the extent of this problem remains unclear,“ she says.
“Volunteers will collect masks and count how many masks they pick up as part of their efforts.”
The pandemic also changed the way people interacted and participated in clean up events, according to Ms Kiernan.
She says there was always a way for people to have a clean up event, even if it was at a different time of the year.
“[COVID] has impacted the timing of some of our events, schools were timing their events differently, prior to that was the bushfires and there has been some changes when people hold events.
“During COVID, there were some people holding back, but we accommodated that and held smaller groups of 10, or on larger sites we had multiple groups with them not getting too close to each other.
“You are outside fresh air, we deliver free clean up kits, deliver gloves and bags and there’s QR check-ins.“
Ms Kiernan said registrations this year, particularly in schools, had been a bit slower, but she hoped that they would pick up in the lead up to the event.
“We are encouraging people to register as soon as possible so people can get their kits in time,“ she said.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet up with friends or find new friends.
“It’s really good to get out there and do something and feel good about it and make a difference.”
The event is in its 32nd year as a nationwide event. It was started 33 years ago by Ms Kiernan’s father, Ian Kiernan, after a solo yacht race around the world opened up his eyes to the waste in the oceans.
That first year there were 40,000 people attending, which resulted in it becoming a yearly event.
“It’s part of the Australian calendar now,” she said.
“Everyone in their 30s and 40s did it at school. Most people know what Clean Up Australia Day is and it’s just a great thing regardless of your age, stage, where you live, that you can get involved.
“It’s about practical action and it’s about the community doing something that makes a difference. It’s quite a nice thing to do.“
The event has also evolved over time, with the organisation focused just as much on preventing waste in the first place.
Ms Kiernan said they believed there should be no thing as waste and resources should be used over and over again.
Registration is easy, and all community-based participants receive a free Clean Up kit, containing gloves and bags and other resources, with packs for individuals, families or groups available.
There are local events being held across Melbourne’s north-west.
Schools can take part in Clean Up Australia Day on Friday, March 4, with community events held on Sunday, March 6 and business clean up day on Tuesday, March 1.
Details: www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au
