Clean Up Australia started with one man’s discovery of the rubbished state of the world’s oceans. Returning from an around-the-world sailing journey in 1987, Ian Kiernan AO reflected upon the appalling amount of rubbish he had sighted in oceans far and wide, including the legendary Sargasso Sea. It saddened him that humans across the world were treating the ocean as a vessel to hold human waste.

Ian resolved to take action to improve the environment, starting from within his own backyard. He helped to establish a committee with the task of organising and promoting a clean-up day for Sydney’s harbour foreshores. Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day resonated with the people of Sydney in 1989 with 40,000 locals volunteering their time.

Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day evoked interest from communities across Australia. Ian Kiernan, Kim McKay and others saw that their clean-up event had the potential to draw in communities nationally. In 1990, some 300,000 people across Australia participated in the inaugural Clean Up Australia Day, cleaning up their local parks, beaches, rivers, schools and roads.

In the 20 years since the first Clean Up Australia Day in 1990, volunteers have spent approximately 24 million hours cleaning up across Australia! There have been measurable improvements in the state of our environment and most notably in community attitudes towards waste and litter.

Clean Up Australia has become a leading not-for-profit organisation and has progressed from organising a single clean-up event to coordinating three dedicated events annually:

Clean Up Australia Day: Sunday 7 March, 2010

Schools Clean Up Day: Friday 5 March, 2010

Business Clean Up Day: Tuesday 2 March, 2010

After 20 years, Clean Up Australia retains its practical focus, working with communities, businesses, governments and schools year round to clean up, fix up and conserve local environments. Sustainability education is an important focus for our work.

To celebrate Clean Up Australia’s 20th anniversary in 2010, people are asked to play their part by picking up just one piece of rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day. If every Australian picked up just one piece of rubbish, more than 20 million pieces of litter would be removed from our environment. This would represent a ten-fold increase in the litter removed from the natural environment on Clean Up Australia Day 2009.

Clean Up Australia is based on the philosophy of personal responsibility and the belief that we can improve our environment for future generations of Australians. So get involved to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment. For more information on how to get involved visit the Clean Up Australia website.

Images (from top):

• 2009 Campaign
• Ian Kiernan AO – 2010 Campaign