With the next Clean Up Australia Day on the horizon, Wingecarribee Shire Council is urging residents to don gloves and gumboots and swing the spade and the bucket into gear.
Council will have a Clean Up Australia Day Hotline number for participants to ring this Sunday to provide details of rubbish pick-up locations.
The number is 0409 810 258.
Council will be operating the day through the hotline number instead of having a co-ordination centre as in previous years.
“On Sunday, we have the opportunity to contribute to fixing up our own environment, especially roadsides, waterways and parks,” Mayor Phil Yeo said yesterday.
“Many of us have probably forgotten the origins of Clean Up Australia Day.
“The concept was borne from yachtsman’s Ian Kiernan’s observations while sailing on the open sea.
“He found the ocean to be a dumping ground for rubbish of every description.
“As a result of his experience, in 1989 he set up a committee to organise the inaugural ‘Clean Up Sydney Harbour Campaign’.”
To date there have been 10 Clean Up Australia Days, supported by millions of Australians and councils such as ours are instrumental in organising the day and promoting community involvement for the continuation of the event.
Clean Up Australia Day is more than a national clean up operation.
Organisers of the day aim to influence and focus community awareness on the need to take individual and collective action to improve the Australian environment.
“Wingecar ribee Shire Council is an environmentally active and responsible Council and this is obvious when you look at various policies, strategies and projects including the Environmental Levy,” Cr Yeo said.
Participants are encouraged to register before March 4 and to collect clean-up kits containing bags and gloves from the Moss Vale Civic Centre and the Mittagong Tourist Information Centre during office hours.
Participants are also asked to ring the hotline number on the day of the clean-up if and when needles are found during clean-up.
“We would like to warn people not to handle dangerous objects such as needles and Council will make arrangements for these to be picked up by trained personnel,” Council’s Waste Services Co-ordinator Tim Jessop said.
Arrangements will also be made for participants who wish to take clean-up rubbish directly to the Welby Waste Depot.
Such helpers are requested to register at the Moss Vale Civic Centre or the Mittagong Tourist Information Centre and receive a signed entry permission slip prior to March 4.
Clean-up Australia Day has an informative website (www.cleanup.com.au) which participants may wish to check before March 4.
For more information on Clean Up Australia Day arrangements contact Tim Jessop, Waste Services Co-ordinator, Wingecarribee Shire Council on Ph: 4868 0833 or Fax: 4869 1203.
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