Clean Up Australia Day
Small actions make a difference for our environment
Firstly, we’d like to acknowledge everyone who doesn’t wait for Clean Up Australia Day to take action, but instead collects litter regularly as part of their daily walk or while paddling on the harbour. These small, consistent efforts throughout the year make a meaningful difference to our environment.
Secondly, thank you to everyone who joined one of the clean-up events across our area for Clean Up Australia Day 2026.
What were the most common litter items found this year?
On Sunday 1 March 2026, fifty volunteers gathered at Rose Bay Beach, pulling on gloves and grabbing litter pickers before heading out across the beach, park and waterways to collect. Together they removed more than 75 kilograms of litter, helping to keep our harbour beautiful and protect local birds and marine life. Our top three items collected at Rose Bay this year were:
- Cigarette butts
- Fragments of plastic wrappers and
- Polystyrene.
This year’s clean-up team patiently collected more than 1,250 cigarette butts (including filters and nicotine pouches), finding litter hot spots close to local venues and park benches. Similarly, hundreds of broken remnants of plastic chip packets, confectionery packets and polystyrene pieces were also found, flowing into our area with winds and tides. Whilst these small items are very time consuming to collect they are important to remove as they can harm wildlife that mistake them for food.
What other trends were seen?
One of the litter concerns emerging in recent years is the number of wet wipes we find. Most brands of wipes are made from a plastic material that gradually breaks into microplastic fibres that remain in our beaches, oceans, bushland and soils. Some brands of wet wipes now meet Australian Standard AS/NZS 5328:2022 that means they are less likely to block sewage systems and will not leave plastic fibres. However, our community does not want to see our local area littered with personal hygiene products, no matter what they are made of.
In good news, the NSW single use plastic bans and Return and Earn container deposit schemes continue to have a positive impact as the banned single use plastic items such as straws, plates, cutlery and take-away packaging were almost eliminated from our collection this year. We are seeing more paper and cardboard take-away food packaging, but it is clear this is quickly breaking down, so will not have a long-term impact.
Who was cleaning up across our area?
Special thanks to the many organisations, families and individuals who hosted clean ups across our local area including: Kincoppal Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill Primary School, Ascham School, McCauley Primary, Woollahra Cottage, Cranbrook Preschools, Active Kids Group Vaucluse Cottage, Royal Sydney Golf Club, HMAS Watson and corporate groups such as Abergeldie Complex Infrastructure.
Bellevue Hill Primary School teacher Federico Capelli was pleased to share with us some inspiring words about the efforts of local students.
"Students from Bellevue Hill Public School proudly took part in the Clean Up Australia Day initiative, working together to care for our school grounds and Bellevue Hill Park. Their efforts helped make our local environment cleaner and more welcoming for everyone. Clean Up Australia Day reminds us that we all play an important role in caring for our land. Through this initiative, students demonstrated active citizenship and saw how small actions can make a meaningful difference."
Everyday actions
You can help to keep our area beautiful everyday by taking a moment to bin your cigarette butts, pick up after your dog and dispose of your rubbish carefully.
Support for your corporate group to host a clean up
Throughout the year we have many corporate groups hosting beach clean ups in our area. We provide free equipment to groups who register through our HarbourCare program and help to ensure their efforts are spread across our beaches.
More information