Recap of our first Great Ocean Road Clean Up Day

Thank you to all our clean up volunteers!

We’re stoked to share that our very first Great Ocean Road Clean Up Day was a success! Thank you so much to everyone who came down to support the initiative. We excited to make it even bigger and better next year!

About the event

In a collaborative effort to preserve the natural beauty of Torquay Common, we united with the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (The Authority) for the inaugural Great Ocean Road Clean Up Day event on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

Renowned as one of Australia's most scenic and beloved destinations, the Great Ocean Road draws millions of visitors annually. However, tourism also brings environmental challenges, such as littering, pollution and habitat degradation.

In addition to the Authority’s Conservation Rangers, the lunchtime initiative attracted twenty enthusiastic superstars who rolled up their sleeves and hit the coast to tidy up for an hour, before coming together for a well-deserved sausage sizzle lunch.

From plastic bottles to stray wrappers, every piece of litter we picked up carried a sense of accomplishment. It was a reminder that even the smallest actions can make a big difference when we work together.

About 8 bags of rubbish were gathered during the cleanup effort, encompassing a variety of items. Among the litter collected, cigarette butts, aluminium can pulls, and zip ties emerged as the most prevalent waste.

These seemingly innocuous objects, though small in size, can pose significant threats to the local fauna and often find their way into our waterways, including Spring Creek.

This successful event marks just the beginning. We’re planning to make this cleanup an annual tradition, with plans to expand to additional venues next year. If you’d like to be notified of our next one, please subscribe to the list on our Great Ocean Road Clean Up Day page!