Eumundi Voice Issue 111, 20 February 2025

ON THIS DAY

Clean Up Australia Day

Clean Up Australia Day occurs on the first Sunday in March each year. It began 35 years ago when Ian Kiernan AO decided to do something about the amount of rubbish lying around. Today Clean Up Australia Day is the country’s largest community-based environmental event. The idea was born out of an Australian Bicentenary event to Clean Up Lake Macquarie, which was subsequently followed in 1989 by a day to Clean Up Sydney Harbour – initiated by Kiernan and Kim McKay AO. More than 40,000 volunteers collected 5,000 tonnes of rubbish from around the harbour. In 1990, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke launched Clean Up Australia Day.

In 1990 94% of rubbish came from discarded packaging and the focus shifted to sorting out what was recyclable. Kiernan campaigned for legislation to reduce packaging and recycle, and in 2008 turned his attention to bottled water – advocating the need for container deposit refunds in Australia.

Kiernan and McKay’s work led to the United Nations Environment Program declaring a Clean Up the World campaign from 1994. Today, volunteers from around 120 countries participate in an annual Clean Up the World weekend held on the third weekend in September.