Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell urged Canberrans to take part in Clean up Australia day this year and help make the ACT the cleanest city in the country.
“The 2011 Rubbish Report reveals 8,272 people in Canberra took the time to clean up the Territory on Clean up Australia Day last year, with approximately 264 tonnes of rubbish removed,” Mr Corbell commented.
The 2011 rubbish report noted that most polluted sites in the territory were public bushland with 67% and parks with 19% of the total waste in the ACT. The average number of items collected from each bushland site increased from 172 in 2010 to 444 in 2011. The report also noted that cigarette butts were the most removed single item of surveyed waste comprising 10% of total. However, plastics are also on the increase representing 35% of the total waste reported, up by 21% from 2010.
“It is also extremely worrying to see plastic making up such a large percentage of the waste collected when most of it can be recycled. It frustrates me that chip and confectionery wrappers, bags, bottles and their caps and plastic packaging continue to invade our environment.” Ian Kiernan AO, Chairman and Founder of Clean up Australia Day said.
It should also be noted that over the past 21 years on Clean up Australia Day an estimated 237,500 tonnes of rubbish have been removed from our environment while every Australian produces an estimated 2 tonnes of garbage a year.