Last year our Rotary Club participated in Clean Up Australia Day with the local cub group and it was pleasing to see the enthusiasm of the local cubs group who echoed the ideals of the founder of the day, Ian Kernan.This year, the cubs were otherwise occupied but the Rotary Club of Berwick collected 111 kg of rubbish, recyclables and litter. The club enjoyed a purposeful morning in the park but it was disappointing that the amount of rubbish was unchanged over the previous year.
The Clean up Australia Day Council commits a significant range of resources such as printed materials, first aid kits, collection bags and safety gear plus the local council collects and disposes of the rubbish.
Now, take a step back or two to look at the project. The amount of rubbish collected has not reduced over the previous year. The cost of collection , taking into account kits and gear from CU Australia Day Council and Casey Council would be well over $1,000 per tonne. All too woke.
The law of averages says that in the week after the clean up the first 5kg of litter would be dumped in the park because there is a lack of civic awareness. No guilt feelings, no punishment, so litterers do it simply because they can. Sadly, the days when it was bad manners to eat in front of others at the shops or in public are long gone. So is he guilty for discarding of litter.
It would be difficult to suddenly apply penalties such as in Singapore where a lolly wrapper is a $300 fine and severe penalties can be thousands plus a maximum of 8 lashes of the cane!
Remember back to the “Life be in it “ campaign with Norm? It occurred simultaneously with community awareness of fitness, gyms in every suburb, cycling tracks, jogging as a pastime, home gyms, increased sport participation and taking the dog for a walk.
Let’s all lobby the Clean Up Australia Day to do some purposeful advertising to supplement or even replace the expensive kits etc. We may even tackle graffiti elimination!
