The simple act of putting your litter in the bin or taking it home can make a big difference in keeping Melbourne’s waterways clean and healthy - bin it or bring it home.
Melbourne’s Waterways
Melbourne and its waterways are more connected than many people realise. The city’s extensive stormwater drainage system plays a vital role in protecting our streets and suburbs from flooding.
This also means that litter dropped in urban areas often finds its way into the stormwater system. From there, it flows directly into our waterways. This means a piece of rubbish dropped in the city centre could end up kilometres away, polluting a beach or a creek.
Did you know?
- An estimated 3 billion pieces of litter are washed into Melbourne’s waterways each year
- Ninety-five per cent of litter that washes up on Port Phillip Bay beaches begins its journey into our waterways after being dropped on suburban streets
- Melbourne Water alone spends $1.6 million each year cleaning litter from the city’s waterways
- In 2019/2020, clean up teams removed nearly 180 tonnes of litter from the Yarra River alone, including 1.3 million cigarette butts.
Why litter is a problem?
Litter affects the appearance of our waterways and causes serious harm to the ecosystems and wildlife that depend on them. That’s why we’re asking you to help protect our waterways and prevent further environmental damage. We have created a litter prevention toolkit, championing “Bin it or bring it home” slogan. We encourage you to join us by using our “Bin it or bring it home” toolkit and helping to preserve Melbourne’s beautiful waterways now and for generations to come.
How to get involved
The “Bin it or bring it home” toolkit is designed to empower local councils and litter advocacy groups to spread this important message. This toolkit was created with input from local councils, animal welfare and litter advocacy groups and contains the following assets for community and council use:
- Semi-customisable posters
- Social media post templates
- Bin decals and floor decals
- Litter prevention discussion guides
With your support, we can stop litter from polluting Melbourne’s waterways. If you’re a council member, part of a litter advocacy organisation, or simply interested in bringing this toolkit to your local area, please fill out the email form below to get involved.
We invite you to sign up to receive the Litter Prevention Toolkit. After completing the form and pressing the submit button, you will be redirected to the Litter Prevention Toolkit page, where you can access and download the toolkit. You will also receive an email with a link to the page for accessing the toolkit resources at a later date.