Your small change can help us change the environment!

Clean Up Australia has ignited community action and raised awareness about environmental conservation in the Australian cultural consciousness by uniting volunteers to take to the streets, beaches, and parks to remove rubbish annually on Clean Up Australia Day for over three decades now. In that time, more than 21 million volunteers have donated more than 38.5 million hours to clean up, fix up and conserve the environment. What an effort!

But Australia’s environmental challenges go beyond just a day and many Australians seem to live with a contradiction. We express concern about the environment yet live materialistic lifestyles that result in high levels of waste and often feel frustrated and unsure how to make a positive impact. 

Australians generate more single-use plastic waste per capita than any other country in the world – about 60 kilograms a year – followed closely by the US, according to research from the Minderoo Foundation.

Each year, every person in Australia (on average) uses 45 plastic produce bags, 50 plastic straws, about 70 plastic cups for hot liquid and 35 for cold, according to a 2021 report commissioned by the Australian government. These single-use plastics make up about a third of the litter on the street.

We can all do better! By making small lifestyle changes (remembering your reusable coffee cup and water bottle, learning what’s accepted in your recycling bin, looking to buy secondhand and refurbished stuff instead of opting for new all the time, reducing your food waste) we can all help to reduce the impact of waste on our planet.

And this EOFY you can take one other, additional simple step to be part of the solution: donate so we can make a diifference, all year round.

Your donation can help us Clean Up Australia every day. Will you be the change we need?

Thousands of small steps make a big difference - and together we can all be part of the solution.

 Could you make a difference by saying no to straws? Taking your empty bottles and cans to a Container Refund Scheme? To bringing your own shopping bag? To composting? To buying recycled, to choosing not to buy fast fashion, remembering to rinse your recyclables or refusing to purchase fruit and vegetables pre-wrapped in plastic? 

"We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly." (Anne Marie Bonneau, the Zero-Waste Chef)