The 3051st Worldwide Environmental Cleanup Campaign for Passover at Chelsea Beach, VIC

“Clean Beaches for a Happy World” at Chelsea Beach

06.03.2016 Cleanup Campaign at Chelsea Beach

March 6, Clean Up Australia Day, was a busy day for members of the World Mission Society Church of God (hereinafter Church of God). The volunteers wearing yellow vests put their efforts into environmental cleanup activities in two different locations Chelsea Beach and Coburg Lake.

Councillor David Eden invited the Church of God volunteers to join the annual cleanup at Chelsea Beach while presenting two Certificates of Appreciation from Kingston City Council and Ian Kiernan AO, Chairman and Founder of ‘Clean Up Australia Day’. He congratulated the volunteers for coming to the beach and making efforts for a more sustainable beach.

The 41 participants picked up 30 bags of rubbish, weighing a total of around 140kg. Rubbish found were mainly cigarette butts, plastic bottles, cans, and other trash.

“3051st Worldwide Environmental Cleanup and that is a great achievement, that is amazing!”

Cr David Eden, Kingston City Council said,

“Thank you all for coming along, that is probably the best turn up we have ever had. I can see this is your 3051st Worldwide Environmental Cleanup and that is a great achievement, that is amazing! Look here today at how much we have collected and when you multiply that by 3051 times, that is a lot of rubbish. Congratulations!”

Nira, beach-goer, said “I am really impressed with the World Mission Society Church of God. I have seen the volunteers going around and picking up rubbish here and there. It is so good to see youngsters having the mindset to work for the environment. I really appreciate their teachings and their Mother who taught them this. I really appreciated it. Keep it up!”

On March 6th, the Church of God joined the annual Clean Up Australia Day event at Chelsea Beach. Research has shown that litter attracts more litter, so events such as Clean Up Australia Day help to decrease the likelihood of more littering. The national event has been running since 1990 and last year more than 550,300 volunteers removed an estimated 16,150 tonnes of rubbish from 7,341 sites across Australia.

The Church of God has increased their cleaning movement campaigns in Melbourne by targeting high visitation parks around waterways in the Port Philip Bay catchment areas. The church will continually monitor, plan, and clean these areas as part of their environmental campaign to combat climate change.