Keep Australia Beautiful Week 2020

This week is Keep Australia Australia Beautiful Week (KAB Week) running from August 17th to the 23rd. The event raises awareness around the environmental issues that our country faces such as littering and pollution. KAB Week encourages Australians to take action by providing information about the simple steps we can all take to reduce our impact on the environment.

Image by Damon Hall

2020 marks the 48th year of this important event, and the theme for this year is “Litter: Prevent the Spread.” The theme encourages all Australians to become more aware of what is finding its way into our “litter stream.” Currently, items such as plastic bottles, straws and bags, end up in landfills and take decades to decompose, which is having detrimental effects on the environment and its inhabitants. This is why KAB Week emphasises how important it is for every household to try their best to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Since COVID-19, the responsible disposal of waste has become more important than ever as it has changed our daily behaviours and routines. As a result, much larger quantities of waste are accumulating from the consummation of disposable face masks and gloves, takeaway food packaging and disposable coffee cups. The CEO of KAB Week Val Southam highlights the severity of this “We are introducing other things into the waste stream that normally would not be there on a large scale.”

If you’d like to get involved in KAB Week 2020, they have prepared some fun educational activities that promote responsible disposal and recycling habits. These activities are focused on three key ways we can reduce and recycle some of the products we are using more of these days:

1. Protecting you and your loved ones without the cost to our planet. This could be through using sanitiser, or washing hands with soap regularly, rather than using disposable gloves.   

2. Keeping good hygiene practices that don’t cost the Earth. This could include using reusable masks. You can check out our extensive range of face masks here. 

3. Reduce and recycle single-use consumables from takeaway food and drinks.

There are themes for every day of this special week designed to inspire environmental responsibility. If you’d like to find out more and register your interest in this activity visit:
kab.org.au