Clean Up Program
Frontline project removing waste polluting waterway in South East Queensland.
Our Clean Up Program is out there manually removing waste from our waterways and bank-bound rubbish.Our Clean Up crew collects floating and bank-bound litter from our waterways, removing the waste before it flows out into Moreton Bay where it can do untold harm to our marine wildlife and ecosystems.
It is a frontline project in the fight against litter pollution in South East Queensland’s waterways.
Once the waste has been collected, we analyse and categorise it so we can better understand how, why and when litter is entering our waterways and work together to stop litter at the source.
What we are doing
- Collecting and analysing litter from South East Queensland’s waterways.
- Mitigating the impacts of litter and debris on local native wildlife.
- Helping deliver on local government litter removal action plans.
- Providing a platform for community members, industry groups, and government to work together to protect the region’s waterways.
- In the 2020/2021 financial year the project removed over 16 tonnes of mostly lightweight plastics from South East Queensland waterways.
- The most common items removed from serviced waterways were plastic food wrapping, polystyrene, and small plastic pieces.
Measuring success
When the 2022 floods hit SEQ in March we were able to immediately respond. To help clean up the enormous amounts of litter and debris that were strewn across our catchments due to the floods, Healthy Land & Water immediately stood up an expanded program and got to work removing harmful pollutants from waterways and mitigating their ability to harm. Immediate removal of these pollutants represents a significant threat abatement to marine and freshwater environments. However, waterway litter is persistent, and ongoing efforts to remove pollutants from targeted waterways should be a priority for government funding.
In the 2022/2023 year, the Clean Up program delivered the following key mitigation activities:
- Removed over 60 tonnes of litter from targeted waterways, largely consisting of lightweight plastic pollution.
This included specifically: - Over 50 tonnes of floating and bank-bound litter was removed from flood-impacted and litter hot spot sites across the Brisbane, Bremer, Logan, and Caboolture Rivers.
Over 10 tonnes of post-flood marine debris was removed from coastal waters and banks of Quandamooka Country in partnership with the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation.
Why this project is important
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Despite our best efforts, waterway litter, and marine debris are still considered to be one of the most serious threats to oceans and coastal areas both here in South East Queensland and across the world. It is listed as a key threatening process to vertebrate marine life under the EPBC Act due to the danger of animals being injured or killed through ingestion or entanglement. Waterway and marine litter originate from many places, but we know approximately 80% is from a land-based source. This litter causes a wide spectrum of environmental, economic, safety, health, and cultural impacts. The very slow rate of degradation of most waterway and marine litter items, especially plastics, together with the continuously growing amount of litter and debris being disposed of, is leading to a gradual increase in litter in our creeks, rivers, estuaries, oceans, and on our shores. Marine debris also impacts human well-being, including economic impacts, impacts on navigation, human health impacts, and social and cultural impacts. In South East Queensland alone, waterways are estimated to deliver over 10 billion dollars a year to the region’s economy through a range of services and activities including recreation, drinking water supply, tourism, and fishing. |
Project snapshot
What's next
There is huge potential to build on the successful work.
Project collaborators
The Clean Up Program is a highly-successful example of what can be achieved when all levels of government, community, and industry come together to address an important issue impacting our catchments.
This project is supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from Brisbane City Council, Ipswich City Council, Logan City Council, Moreton Bay Regional Council, the Queensland Government, and the Australian Government.