News Archive

A piano leg, a finger puppet and a complete outfit - pants, shirt, shoes and socks - were among rubbish picked up by UWA volunteers during Clean Up Australia.

About 120 staff and students cleaned up the Crawley campus, the Nedlands campus and the Matilda Bay foreshore early on Friday March 2 and were rewarded with a breakfast at the University Club - as well as a sparkling campus.

Co-ordinator Trish Howard from Sustainable Development (Facilities Management) said the crew had picked up about three cubic metres of rubbish and recyclables across 742,000 square metres in less than two hours. (The set of clothes was found on the Matilda Bay foreshore.)

"It was a great effort and we were delighted that nearly all the people who volunteered last year put their hands up again this year.  I didn't have to go looking for volunteers," she said.

Cigarette butts, as always, featured among the rubbish collected. Ms Howard said she would be interested to see how many, if any, were collected next year, after the smoking ban had been in place for a year.  "It will give us an idea of how successful the smoke-free campaign is," she said.

Breakfast for the volunteers was sponsored by the University Club and Sustainable Development.

View images taken at the event .

Media references

Lindy Brophy (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 2436
Trish Howard (UWA Sustainable Development)  (+61 8) 6488 7540