Sue Innes of Rockingham

Sue is a KAB hero who has been working to clean up the area around Rockingham train station. In one day she collected 14 bags of rubbish and the place looked a lot cleaner for it. She has approached local authorities to see if a rubbish bin can be placed at the beginning of the path and has also contacted the council about graffiti in the area. The graffiti has been cleaned up thanks to Sue.

Sue is now looking at targeting other areas around Rockingham. Her efforts in litter prevention are greatly appreciated!

Riders pitch in to clean up

It was off with the riding gloves and on with the working gloves at Gnangara on Saturday 21 June as volunteer trail and quad bike riders joined forces with the Department of Environment and Conservation for a big clean-up day.

An initiative of the Recreational Trailbike Riders' Association, the clean-up day focused on removing as much of the accumulated rubbish as possible from the popular riding areas in the pine forest off Gnangara Road. Over the years it has seen an appalling amount of illegal dumping and was literally strewn with all manner of household, commercial and building rubbish. Sharp objects pose an obvious safety risk to riders as well as making the area look more like a junk yard than a recreation facility.

Over fifty volunteers gave a hand and by lunchtime they had collected 500 bags of rubbish and cleaned several hundred square metres of riding area. Keep up the great work RTRA!

Alcoa supports World Environment Day

As a contribution to World Environment Day this year, Alcoa WA Mining held a number of clean-up days from 12 - 14 June 2007. All Mining employees were asked to spend just 20 minutes each collecting litter from around the mine grounds and their immediate work areas.

Participating employees were provided with gloves and Keep Australia Beautiful litter bags and asked to collect as much litter as possible in selected areas. The main types of litter collected on the mines were old gloves and used rags, used ear plugs, food wrappers and drink containers and waste workshop materials such as pieces of metal, bolts, o-rings, and small pieces of plastic and rubber. More than 185 employees participated over the three days collecting approximately 189 bags full of rubbish and ensuring over 25 hectares of WA mining is now litter free!

We hope the Clean-up day will now become an annual event for WA Mining.

Newman College Clean Up!

Newman College Year 10 students completed a clean up at Bold Park and Kings Park at the end of May 2007.

84 students from the college participated over two days to fill 150 large rubbish bags with litter from the edges of the parks, near main roads. The students were amazed by the variety of items they came across which included car hub caps, stolen handbags and bank cards!

Newman College Service Learning coordinator Mike Diamond said the students felt they had made an important contribution to the community by cleaning up the natural environment. They really enjoyed taking part in the project because they could see their efforts benefited the natural environment and also made both parks more appealing to visitors from an aesthetic point of view. The benefits of the project will continue through increased awareness of littering and the importance of proper waste disposal and recycling.

Well done to the students and staff at Newman College for a great effort in cleaning up!

Michael Filby of Walpole

Michael is a regional KAB Hero who ensures 100kms of highway in the South West is kept a litter free zone. Michael collects litter along the No.1 Highway, from the Kent River in the east to the Shannon River in the north on a weekly basis. He has created a rubbish bag holder which is attached to the back of his car and works his way along the highway filling bags. Michael strongly believes that littering is unacceptable. His efforts and commitment to protecting the Walpole Wilderness Area from the disastrous effects of litter are congratulated.

If you would like to let us know about other community efforts in combating litter please contact us or phone +61(8) 6467 5169.

Geoff Warren of Dwellingup

Geoff is a regional KAB hero who ensures Dwellingup Primary School is a sustainable school. Geoff exceeds his role as school Gardener where he is seen as the initiator and driving force behind the school’s environmental program. His contributions to the school and community are numerous and include coordinating the Environmental Club and community litter clean ups, tree planting particularly after the Dwellingup bush fires, worm farming, vegetable gardening, and the reusing of discarded materials and plants from the community within the school grounds. His nature trail at the back of the school is a virtual outdoor classroom and Geoff’s vast horticultural and faunal knowledge adds greatly to the learning opportunities in the classroom.

Max Head of Pinjar

Max is a KAB Hero who has been working hard to maintain the beauty of the Pinjar Forest in Wanneroo, north of Perth. Max volunteers as a tree planter in the forest striving to maintain the biodiversity of the area as it is constantly under threat from illegally dumped materials, pollution and rubbish discarded by trail- bike riders. Max has been at war with illegal dumpers by collecting and organising enormous amounts of materials ranging from building rubble to motorbike tyres which are dumped through the numerous winding trails of the Pinjar Forest. He has been waiting for the City of Wanneroo’s assistance to remove the rubbish for several years. Max also strongly believes that Western Australia should introduce a bottle deposit system similar to South Australia’s to put a value on litter so that it finds its way to recycling plants, not our roadsides.

If you would like to let us know about other community efforts in combating litter please contact us or phone +61(8) 6467 5169.