With large gatherings banned and social distancing laws in place, we’ve had to postpone our regular Clean Ups. Yet the amount of plastic waste is surging because of the coronavirus pandemic and it is feared the increase in single-use plastics will have long-term impacts on the environment.
We’ve heard a lot of you are going a bit stir-crazy with the lockdown and what could be better than getting fitter by picking up litter? So, step up, step out and start PLOGGING, with registrations for the inaugural Clean Up Australia PLOG-A-THON now open!
What’s plogging? We’re glad you asked! It’s the combination of two words “jogging” and the Swedish phrase for pick up, “plocka upp”. It means you keep up your fitness and make a difference – all while maintaining your social distance. And no, jogging is not mandatory – walking, hiking, plodding and paddling are all totally fine! How you participate is entirely up to you – the important part is picking up rubbish as you go.
Did you know that:
- only 50% of packaging in Australia is recycled, and
- An average of 2% of plastic packaging in Australia is made of recycled content?
There are two things we can do to change this:
- Improve our recycling at home
- Buy products which contain recycled material in them, or in their packaging