A major community information and mobilisation campaign has started in Australia in the runup to government decisions about packaging policy.  Called ‘Kicking the Can’ the 27 state and national environment groups in the Boomerang Alliance, of which Project AWARE is a member, is calling for governments to stop procrastinating and implement a national container deposit system.

The campaign got off to a dramatic start in Sydney’s central business district on 9 April as 4,000 bottles and cans were dumped at Martin Place – representing just 15 seconds of those landfilled or littered every year.  That’s a total of 15,000 cans and bottles every minute and eight billion a year! 

A series of community events are being held throughout the month of April aimed at highlighting to the public, businesses and politicians the benefits of a national container deposit scheme.

Heading up the Cooks River in Sydney today, Project AWARE's Program and Outreach Coordinator, Hannah Pragnell-Raasch joined other Boomerang Alliance members, politicians and the media to check out just some of the rubbish found floating in this unique urban waterway located in the inner South West of the city. 

"The Cooks River runs through some of the most heavily urbanised and industrialised areas in Australia, which makes some parts of the river very polluted," said Hannah.

"In just our short trip by boat we came across cans, bottles and plastic bags all making their way down stream to our ocean. Once in the ocean this trash can drift for thousands of miles leaving a wake of destruction in its path."

Every year marine debris kills thousands of marine birds and mammals, choking coral reefs and contaminating our beaches. The Boomerang Alliance is asking Australia's state and federal ministers to Kick the Can and implement a national 10c container deposit scheme.

You can add your voice to the call to action by visiting www.kickingthecan.org.au/take-action 

Photo: Hannah joins Tim Silverwood from Take 3 fishing out rubbish from Cooks River