Litter Hotspots: Communities for Platypus - Litter Free Towns
Yarra Ranges Shire Council
The Communities for Platypus - Litter Free Towns initiative was a community capacity building program aimed at reducing litter and stormwater pollution entering the Yarra River at Warburton and its tributaries in Belgrave and Healesville. Yarra Ranges Shire Council used a combination of education, infrastructure and enforcement strategies, and undertook research to identify litter hotspots and causes of litter.
The council also implemented a 'Communities for Platypus' engagement program with schools, communities and traders to highlight the problems caused by litter and dumped rubbish in local waterways. The project involved designing artwork and installing bins and signage in hotspots to educate the community. It established litter-free townships groups to support further action and drive town-specific interventions.
Key achievements from this project included:
- the establishment of three plastic bag free groups (Warburton, Healesville and Dandenong Ranges)
- 45% of local businesses in Healesville supporting plastic bag free groups
- installing a map with anti-littering messaging aimed at locals and tourists
- installing eight 'Seal the Loop' bins in key fishing areas
- reaching 2,500 students with the 'Communities for Platypus' program.
Resources
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Yarra Ranges Shire Council - Communities for Platypus: Litter-Free Towns Final Report Report 1.6 MB
This report was written by the Yarra Ranges Shire Council as part of their Litter Hotspots funded project 'Communities for Platypus - Litter-free towns'. The report highlights the project's key activities, including communications, PR and marketing as well as litter reduction data and approaches undertaken to identify litter hotspots and causes of litter in order to implement a 'Communities for Platypus' engagement program with schools, businesses and the community.
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Yarra Ranges Shire Council - Communities for Platypus: Litter-Free Towns Clean Up Australia Day analysis Report 1.2 MB
The Yarra Ranges Shire Council produced a report to analyse the materials that were collected at a range of hotspots sites at a Clean Up Australia Day event.
External Links
This 'Don't trash the platypus' animation was developed by Yarra Ranges Shire Council to tell the story of how litter impacts platypus environments.
Last updated: 15/12/2017