Clean Up Australia Day is being held on Sunday 3 March around the country and Northern Beaches locals are being asked to do their bit in our area.

The annual event held on the first weekend in March was coined back in 1989 by founder and Chairman the late Ian Kiernan AO to inspire and empower communities to clean up the rubbish we create that is killing one of our best assets - nature.

Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said again this year there will be three separate events so everyone can get involved.

“Registrations are now open for this year’s clean up including a Business Clean Up Day, Youth and Schools Clean Up Day and the main event so I encourage everyone to get on board to register a site or to join a site.

“We live in such a beautiful area and need to respect the natural environment to ensure it is left pristine for generations to come.

“While Clean Up Australia Day happens once a year, it is up to each and every one of us to responsibly remove and dispose of rubbish every day to ensure it does not end up in our parks, bushland, waterways and the ocean,” Mayor Regan said.

The three community events include:

Business Clean Up Day – Tuesday 26 February 2019

Youth and Schools Clean Up Day – Friday 1 March 2019

Clean Up Australia Day – Sunday 3 March 2019

Register your clean up event at Clean Up Australia’s website or volunteer at a Northern Beaches site near you.

Last year Clean Up Australia Day was very successful on the Northern Beaches with 95 sites participating in the event.

A total of 9.8 tonnes of waste was removed from the Local Government Area while a number of heavy items including sunken boats, car parts and a quad bike were recovered from offshore locations.

At Manly Cove, 106 volunteer scuba divers from Dive Centre Manly removed 80kg alone of rubbish from the water in just one hour.

Of the 76% of items removed from this site, they included single-use plastics including plastic bags, plastic cutlery, plastic food wrappers and plastic straws.

For more information visit northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au