Registrations for the 2024 Schools Clean Up Day on Friday 1 March are open, with Clean Up Australia encouraging all schools to sign up and band together to take practical action to help tackle the nation’s growing waste challenges.
“The future of our environment lies in the hands of the next generations and involving them in creating solutions is vital,” Ms Pip Kiernan, Chair of Clean Up Australia, said.
“It’s always encouraging to see kids enthusiastically roll up their sleeves and get involved. Once they start identifying the sheer quantity and types of litter in their school and local environment they can really start to consider how they might be able to make a difference in avoiding it from getting there in the first place.”
In 2022/23, more than 4,000 Australian schools participated in Schools Clean Up Day, which is held annually on the Friday before Clean Up Australia Day.
Open to preschool, primary and secondary students, Schools Clean Up Day is one of the most practical ways to engage kids in litter prevention, sustainability, community and teamwork.
“Schools Clean Up is such a special day for the school community to band together for positive change, get kids out into their local environment and surroundings and is an experience that will likely stay with them and be passed back to their own families and friends,” Ms Kiernan said.
Clean Up Australia has teamed with Cool.org to create resources and curriculum-linked lesson plans to help teachers maximise the success of their School Clean Up.
The lesson plans help to focus students’ attention on waste and sustainability topics by giving them practical things to do as they learn. The plans had more than 10,000 downloads at the start of 2023.
They are available free of charge for pre, primary and secondary school educators.
Register at cleanup.org.au for Schools Clean Up Day on Friday March 1, 2024.
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