METHODOLOGY

The Clean Up Australia Rubbish Report is the only national, annual litter audit of its kind. First produced in 1991, the Rubbish Report has proven to be an invaluable resource for measuring and comparing patterns of littering and dumping.

The Report has proven to be very useful in identifying trends in the types and dispersal of rubbish throughout Australia and highlights the importance of avoiding, reducing, re-using and recycling rubbish.

Rubbish Report Survey Forms are issued with Clean Up kits to site coordinators who have nominated to undertake the survey when they registered their clean up site. The survey requires those taking part to identify and count a proportion of the rubbish collected at their site. One in five bags of rubbish collected is analysed, with a maximum of 10 bags surveyed per site. If less than five bags are collected, the contents of just one bag is counted.

Each site surveyed is classified by the category that best describes its location. The categories are: beaches/coastal, outdoor transport areas, parks/waterfronts, public bushland, rivers/creeks, roadways, school grounds, shops/malls and other.

The Rubbish Report survey form lists a total of 82 specific waste items grouped by type of source material, with a general 'other' heading in each section for those items which do not fit easily within the list. Source categories are: plastic (further divided into plastic bags, plastic bottles/ containers and plastic miscellaneous), polystyrene, glass, rubber, paper/cardboard, metal/aluminium (further divided into metal/aluminium cans and metal/aluminium miscellaneous), wood and miscellaneous. Of the 7,564 sites cleaned up nationally, 11% or 814 sites were analysed for this report. At these sites 3,722 bags were surveyed. This year 297,692.9 items formed the sample of rubbish counted for analysis.

To ensure the reliability of information that is included in the Report, only those surveys that are accurately completed are considered valid and used in the Report. The total number of valid surveyed sites has increased from 484 last year to 738 sites this year.

This Report would not be possible without the commitment of hundreds of Clean Up Australia Day site coordinators and volunteers who take the time to complete a survey of the rubbish collected at their chosen site.

Their efforts to make a difference and help Clean Up Australia are very much appreciated

The Rubbish Report is intended to act as a source of information to evaluate the effectiveness of litter campaigns such as Clean Up Australia Day. It is not intended as a definitive tool for analysis of litter and the littering behaviour of Australians.