Today is ‘Clean Up Australia Day‘, a day in which volunteers tidy up their environment, from the beaches, rivers and creeks, parks, public bush lands, shops and malls, school grounds and outdoor transport areas. The campaign was started by Ian Kiernan, an Australian builder and solo yachtsman. As he sailed around the world in 1987 he was shocked at the extent of pollution and rubbish he saw in areas such as the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean. When he returned to Sydney he enlisted friends and developed a campaign to enlist 40,000 volunteers to clean up Sydney Harbour. In 1990, the following year, almost 300,000 volunteers enrolled for Clean Up Australia Day. Clean Up the World was launched in 1993, involving approximately 30 million volunteers in 80 countries.
I’ve written up the television campaigns from the last two years at Duncan’s TV Ad Land. The first ads aim at motivating people to use reusable bags for shopping. The last two years have focused on motivating volunteers for the clean-up effort, raising awareness in the 20 – 35 year age bracket.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great for such projects. But having just written all this up I’m now interested in preparing for Clean Up Australia Day 2007.