Now in its 36th year, Clean Up Australia Day has once again had an incredible attendance  with over 750,000 volunteers coming together to help keep their local communities clean across more than 8,000 Clean Up events. While registrations are still being received, it has been another inspiring effort from volunteers right across Australia. The number of community events grew this year, as did supporting councils – a wonderful demonstration of community in action to deliver this huge day for the environment. Clean Up Australia Day is the nation’s largest community-based environmental event and more than 23 million Australians have participated in Clean Up activities since its inception. It is the most practical way to educate and demonstrate litter prevention. Clean Up events are happening all across the country, from the beaches of Broome in WA to the shores of Botany Bay in Sydney. 

“My Dad, the late Ian Kiernan AO, founder of Clean Up Australia, was a practical man of action. He picked up a bag, got his gloves on and got to work. That first Clean Up along Sydney Harbour in 1989, was a simple act of love for his country and the environment, and it has grown into the largest community Clean Up event in Australia. Every year, without fail, Australians show up. Rain, hail or shine, people right across this country get their gloves on and get to work to care for the place they call home. To every single volunteer who gave time on their Sunday today, thank you. You are the reason this movement is still going and growing after 36 years.” Pip Kiernan, Chair of Clean Up Australia commented “Our latest Litter Report FY25 is a reminder of why days like today matter. Plastics make up more than 80% of all litter found across Australia, cigarette butts are now the most littered individual item, and vapes are turning up at more than a third of surveyed Clean Up sites. This is what our volunteers are finding under their feet today, and it is a call to action for every single one of us.”.

Pip and community volunteers were joined this morning by Olympic diver Sam Fricker and the Gamay Rangers, led by Robert Cooley (Bintar), at Frenchman’s Beach, La Perouse, a nod to Clean Up Australia’s enduring connection to Australia’s waterways and a celebration of the First Nations community’s ongoing work to restore and protect Botany Bay (Gamay).  Other major events across the country included Brisbane, where Clean Up Australia CEO Jenny Geddes, sustainability ambassador Elyse Knowles and Ubuntu Foundation founder Carolyn Vincent were joined by The Honourable Murray Watt, Federal Minister for the Environment and Water and local member Julie-Ann Campbell MP at Koala Park, Moorooka. In Melbourne, three-time Olympian and bronze medallist Rhydian Cowley, David Neitz, former AFL Melbourne FC captain and Joe Pincus, Rugby Sevens Olympian led volunteers along the Yarra River, with participants paddling and walking to collect litter from the waterway and its banks.  According to the FY25 Clean Up Australia Litter Report, plastics represent 80.8% of all counted litter nationally, cigarette butts account for 23.6%, and vapes are now found at 33.9% of surveyed sites, up 23.5% over three years