Schools & Youth Clean Up Day

What is Schools & Youth Clean Up Day?

Keeping Australia clean and free of rubbish requires everyone to get involved! That’s why Clean Up Australia Day is encouraging Schools, Youth Groups, Businesses, Councils and Communities to hold their own Clean-Up Event. 

Hosting a Clean-Up Event is a great way to get your School or Youth Group involved in community action. Spending the day cleaning up a beach, park, bushland or river will introduce your students or youth group to the types of rubbish that negatively impact our precious environment.

How to get your primary school involved

If you’re a preschool or primary school teacher, hosting a Clean-Up Event can give your little ones a sense of achievement and pride. It’s a great way to introduce the idea of environmental stewardship and the way our actions (i.e. littering) have an impact on the environment and wildlife around us. 

We recommend giving your students an incentive to pick up lots of rubbish — perhaps a free period for the whole class, a movie afternoon, or a fun activity they’d like the class to do. 

How to get your high school involved

If you’re a highschool teacher, a Clean Up Event is an opportunity to link in your curriculum and topics like food waste, fast fashion, plastic packaging, E-waste, and recycling! https://www.cleanup.org.au/the-issues 

Perhaps your students could collect, graph and present the types of rubbish that they find, and identify potential solutions. Did you know that in 2020, 1,324+ high schools and youth groups got involved in Youth Clean-Up Day? Amazing effort!

Clean Up Australia Day Resources

Here are some high-quality educational resources created by Clean Up Australia Day and Cool Australia for a Primary Curriculum and a Secondary Curriculum. Take a look! 

If you’re a leader or member of a  Youth Group (scouts, guides, faith-based groups, tertiary education groups), a Clean-Up Event is a great way to build cooperation, friendships, and environmental awareness! 

3 Steps to Creating a Clean Up Event

Hosting a Clean-Up Event is super easy. 

Pick a location!

Ask your students or youth group: What area in our community needs cleaning up? It could be a beach, park, area of bushland, river or walking trail. 

Some things to consider:

Easily accessible areas, the area must be on public (not private) land. You may need a permit/permission to clean in National Parks. Pick an area that has toilets nearby and make sure the areas is safe, no sharp, rocky terrain, slippery surfaces.

Register Online

Register here as a School, Youth, Business or Community. Once you’ve completed the steps, Clean Up Australia Day will post a kit to you. 

You can also get a few things from F&F like If You Care Household Gloves and Biobags to collect your rubbish. 

We also have some great Zero Waste Boxes from TerraCycle to help with those hard-to-recycle things! 

Spread the Word!

Make sure your school and community are aware of where the event is, what time it starts, and what the purpose of the day is! Perhaps your students could make posters and infographics to pop up around the school. 

After the Clean Up Event finishes, make sure all waste is disposed of correctly (including sharp items). As an interesting activity (and to promote critical thinking), get your students to assess the rubbish that they found, and brainstorm ways to reduce littering. 

Your Clean Up Event could potentially spark a chain reaction of fundraisers, community initiatives and ongoing waste-reduction programs in your school!