In 2025, Clean Up Australia will celebrate its 35-year anniversary of cleaning up, fixing up and conserving the environment.
The not-for-profit’s largest annual event, Clean Up Australia Day, takes place on the first Sunday in March and welcomes more than one million volunteers each year to improve one of our biggest waste challenges — accumulated litter, particularly hard and soft plastics in our streets, beaches, parks, bushland and waterways.
To help you play your part, we’ve compiled a list of waste-saving initiatives at UQ.
How you can be waste-conscious at UQ
Here are 5 key initiatives to help reduce your impact on campus and create a cleaner Australia:
- Visit UQ’s reuse and recycling station at the St Lucia campus, where you can recycle everything from small e-waste, mobile phones, ink cartridges and CDs/DVDs to toothbrushes, soft plastics and stationery. Many of these items are able to be given a second life, including being downcycled into products like garden pots and park benches instead of ending up in landfill.
- Take advantage of UQ’s water refill stations, with several located across our St Lucia and Gatton campuses. Say ‘no’ to single-use plastic bottles by bringing your own reusable water bottle and enjoying free fresh water.
- Did you know that most takeaway coffee cups are lined with plastic and can’t be recycled? Cut down on the waste associated with your daily coffee by bringing your own. Better yet, when you BYO your cup at many cafes on campus, you will receive a discount on your cuppa!
- Drop in to UQ’s Repair Café to fix your much-loved personal items rather than tossing them. The café’s volunteer fixers aim to repair broken items that would otherwise go to landfill, while also sharing some DIY skills. And all while enjoying a coffee and a chat.
- Take part in UQ-supported days and campaigns that promote environmental awareness and waste reduction, including Clean Up Australia Day, Plastic Free July and World Environment Day.
Other practical waste-saving tips
The Clean Up Australia website has a range of handy resources that encourage individuals to step up and make a difference when it comes to improving the environment, including an annual Litter Report that provides a snapshot of litter collected by volunteers.
To help alleviate some of our waste challenges, Clean Up Australia suggests refusing, reducing, reusing, recycling and composting — solutions that will move us towards a circular economy where there is no such thing as waste.
For example, container deposit schemes, like Containers for Change, provide an easy and convenient way to recycle most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard beverage containers, while earning 10 cents for every eligible container. Once collected, the containers are sorted and prepared for recycling, before being transformed into new containers and other products, avoiding landfill entirely.
About Clean Up Australia Day
Clean Up Australia Day is an annual environmental event that encourages individuals, communities and businesses to clean up local parks, waterways, beaches and other public spaces.
Founded by Ian Kiernan AO and Kim McKay AO in 1990, the event promotes awareness of waste management and environmental protection, with volunteers across the country participating by removing litter, recycling waste and improving the natural environment.
To date, more than 20 million Australians have donated their time to Clean Up Australia Day. It has continued to grow in popularity, becoming one of the country’s largest community-based environmental campaigns, and contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable environment.
Learn more about community stewardship and the power of coming together to care for the environment.