Clean Up Australia is celebrating 35 years of keeping the nation beautiful by launching its inaugural Community Awards, designed to recognise the amazing contributions made by volunteers and environmental champions. 

More than a million Aussies took part in this year’s Clean Up Australia Day campaign in March. Pip Kiernan, chair of Clean Up Australia, says the anniversary year felt like the right time to celebrate the huge impact those volunteers — who are an unusually diverse bunch — have on preserving and protecting our environment.

“Clean Up Australia really bucks the trend when it comes to the types of volunteers we attract – they are of all ages, as well as the fact that our volunteer numbers are actually growing when the national trend of volunteering is declining,” Kiernan says.

While volunteering is most often done by retirees, around a third of Clean Up Australia’s volunteers are under 20 years of age and the mix includes Scouts, Cubs, Girl Guides, schools, fishing groups, religious groups, families, Rotary groups and walking groups.

“Clean Up does a lot of work in schools, on both education around litter prevention and actual clean ups, so we have a high participation rate from kids. During our latest Clean Up Australia Day campaign in March this year, we had over 11,000 clean-up events across the country and over 751,000 volunteers take part in that month of action.”

As impressive as those numbers are, Kiernan says there’s room for more businesses to get involved — especially those from the cleaning industry.

“We are always looking for other organisations to get involved, whether that be through participating in Clean Up events, raising awareness on litter prevention and their sustainability practices, or sponsorship.”

Additional funding means Clean Up Australia can deliver more of their kits into the hands of more schools and community members. Businesses play an important part in delivering that funding, alongside support from government and local councils. 

“We very much appreciate their [businesses’] hard efforts.”

Nominations for the Clean Up Australia Community Awards opened on 1 August and will close 30 September, with judging taking place over the following couple of months. Winners will be announced at the launch of Clean Up Australia Day 2025 and will receive an invitation to the awards ceremony including one return airfare and one night’s accommodation.

For more information, visit cleanup.org.au/clean-up-awards