Plastic bottles dominate New South Wales’ Clean up Australia rubbish collection
November 11, 2017
Research released by Clean Up Australia, as part of a new SodaStream campaign to bring awareness to the impact of plastic bottles on the environment during National Recycling Week, has revealed that plastic is the dominant source of rubbish reported by volunteers in New South Wales.
More than 11,728 plastic bottles, bottle caps and lids were collected across New South Wales on Clean Up Australia Day, March 2016. Plastics continue to be the most common rubbish item found on Clean Up Australia Day, representing over 33% of all rubbish collected over the past 10 years.
The research is supported by a new thought provoking yet humorous video from SodaStream that lifts the lid on the ways Australians innocently litter. The first of three videos that will be posted on Sodastream's social media channels, portrays an everyday situation where a normal Aussie bloke places his used plastic beverage containers in the wrong household bin.
Clean Up Australia founder, Ian Kiernon, said: “We’re increasingly getting more time poor, which can mean we often subconsciously litter as we lead our busy lives. SodaStream’s Anonymous Litterbug videos provide a tongue-and-cheek look at those situations and can help us be more observant of common littering habits.”
“Every year we see more and more beverage containers in storm water drains, local parks, beaches and playgrounds. According Roy Morgan research, 5.3 million Australians, or 27.1 per cent of the population, purchased plastic bottles last year. That’s a scary thought.
“As well as responsibly disposing of their rubbish - preferably by recycling - Australians can help by simply reducing the number of bottles they buy,” said Mr Kiernon.
SodaStream Australia Managing Director, Mark Fenton, said: “We created these videos to shine a light on plastic bottle waste, the importance of recycling and pre-cycling, as well as highlighting that, from time to time, we are all guilty of doing the wrong thing.”
SodaStream announced a partnership with Clean Up Australia in October as a part of the company’s ongoing fight against the toxic plight of single use plastic bottle waste in Australia.
The partnership will further strengthen SodaStream’s ongoing campaign to change the way consumers think about single use beverage bottles, and its support for a national container deposit scheme that will help reduce the 52 billion plastic bottles that end up in landfill or oceans every year.