By Tyler Wright
Hills locals will be able to take a step towards caring the environment by getting involved in a Clean Up Australia Day event being held by Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) Australia in Belgrave on Sunday 5 March.
WFWP Australia’s national president Anne Bellavance said the organisation has partnered with Clean Up Australia Day for four years to hold the event, setting up a marquee at Apex Park on the day.
“We’ve done some major cleanups around the railway and under the underpass…and this year we want to focus on the arterial roads,” Ms Bellevance said.
“Wellington Road leading up to the landfill area is so bad.”
Children involved will be encouraged to remain in the immediate Belgrave area, while adults will have the option of walking along arterial roads wearing vests and gloves while carrying one hessian bag for recyclables and another bag for rubbish.
Plastic bottles, glass beer bottles and aluminium are often found during the clean up, Ms Bellevance said.
“It is a very soft way of educating, because they see adults doing it and they think ‘oh, we need to pick up the rubbish,’ so it is very good in that respect for the youth,” Ms Bellevance said.
And while the number of people getting involved in the event has increased each year, it is still “not enough,” she said.
“Awareness and education is the key, so that when groups do get together it’s not cool to throw away your cans,” she said.
“It’s a bit like having your coffee mug and your water bottle, It’s now cool to actually have them.”
“We have to encourage businesses that can use recyclable products, because if there’s no market the businesses won’t get involved.”
Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) pastor Daniel Meadows said locals and shop owners love seeing the clean up each year.
“Two years ago I was cleaning up along the road near the back alley near the train station and there’s a lot of shop owners and locals, they were coming up and they’re like, ‘who are you guys?’ ‘what are you doing? ‘are you cleaning up?’ ‘thank-you’… It was really encouraging,” he said.
“When we’re driving home, the kids start to ask ‘should we clean up this area too?”
To sign up for WFWP’s Clean Up Australia Day event, or to find other events registered in the area, visit the Clean Up Australia Day website.
The event will run from 11am to 3pm, and there is no requirement for attendees to stay for the whole four hours.
Apex Park is located at 11 Terrys Avenue in Belgrave.
