A number of projects are making a real difference in the war on waste in South East Queensland. Healthy Land & Water is leading the charge with programs and projects that are collecting litter, removing invasive weeds, revegetating landscapes, restoring local spaces, and more.

Keep Australia Beautiful Week.

To celebrate Keep Australia Beautiful Week, we would like to shine the spotlight on two programs in particular, the Moreton Bay Marine Debris Removal Program and the Clean Up Program.

Keep Australia Beautiful was Australia’s first sustainable and anti-litter campaigner. A household name, the organisation has worked with communities across the country for 50 years.

This year’s Keep Australia Beautiful week is focused on preventing single-use plastic from becoming litter. This is something Healthy Land & Water has been focusing on as part of its clean-up programs tackling litter in South East Queensland. Read more below:

Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland Marine Debris Removal

Healthy Land & Water in partnership with Ocean Crusaders is tackling the build-up of marine debris and litter threatening coastal values including water quality and marine life across the Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland, as part of the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Rubbish from urban areas runs into Moreton Bay via various river systems across South East Queensland and accumulates in Moreton Bay’s coastal environments. Once there, the litter threatens birds and marine wildlife and has detrimental impacts on tourism and day trippers.

The project is removing over 60 tonnes of marine debris across more than 150 hectares of the Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland to reduce the threat of litter to coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife.

Healthy Land & Water and Ocean Crusaders are also hosting several community clean-up days to raise awareness about the impact of litter and to involve the community in the care of the Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland. Follow us on Facebook to be notified of these clean-up days.

Learn more about the program here:https://hlw.org.au/project/moreton-bay-debris-removal-program/ 

Clean Up Program

The dedicated Healthy Land & Water Clean Up Program collects floating and bank-bound litter from the region’s waterways, removing the waste, immediately improving amenities, and preventing it from flowing out into Moreton Bay where it can do untold harm to our marine wildlife and ecosystems.

Once the waste has been collected, we work with our research, government, and community partners to analyse and categorise the litter so we can better understand how, why and when litter is entering our waterways and oceans. We can then use the data to inform our prevention efforts and how we can stop litter at the source.

The program recently received funding support from the Queensland Government, which will allow the crew to increase their level of servicing of targeted waterways across the region.

Learn more about the program here.

Putting single-use plastic in the spotlight

Last financial year, the Clean Up Program removed over 20 tonnes of predominately lightweight rubbish from Moreton Bay and South East Queensland waterways.

According to the latest Clean Up Program Annual Report, the highest number of items collected from serviced waterways were plastic pieces, plastic food wrap, and polystyrene, which is a plastic-based product.

Encouragingly, the report also revealed significant declines in the number of single-use plastic bottles and plastic bags collected from waterways across South East Queensland!

Read more about the report here: https://hlw.org.au/newsroom/national-plastics-plan-the-program-tackling-plastic-pollution-in-south-east-queensland/

You can help keep up this good work and help keep the region’s waterways and the Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland beautiful by putting your rubbish in the bin and reducing the amount of single-use plastic you use. Why not take the Keep Australia Beautiful pledge to give up single-use plastic items?

The Moreton Bay Marine Debris Removal program is supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

The Clean Up Program is supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s Environmental Restoration Fund.

Healthy Land & Water gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Australian Government, Brisbane City Council, City of Gold Coast, Logan City Council, Ipswich City Council, and Moreton Bay Regional Council in ensuring this important program continues to operate.