Georges River Council would like to congratulate Georges Riverkeeper for winning the prestigious Keep Australia Beautiful NSW (KAB NSW) 2023 Sustainable Cities Award for its “Zero Litter in Georges River” project.
Best in the Litter Prevention/Clean Waterways category, the “Zero Litter in Georges River” project was funded by the Australian Government. It was delivered by Georges Riverkeeper, six local councils, six primary schools, and their communities, to reduce litter entering the Georges River through stormwater.
Council worked with Connells Point Public School as one of the six partnerships with Georges Riverkeeper on the project.
Georges River Council Mayor, Sam Elmir, said “Council is incredibly proud of being part of the award-winning campaign “Zero Litter in Georges River”.
“We would also like to thank Connells Point Public School for collaborating with Council, the students did a fantastic job learning to reduce litter in Georges River and spreading awareness in our community with their colourful and expressive artworks.”
Georges Riverkeeper Program Manager, Scott Reyes, said, “The Zero Litter in Georges River project uses practical solutions to help curb litter flow into the Georges River including improving the effectiveness of gross pollutant traps. This is one of the current ‘end-of-line’ solutions to help stop waste from entering waterways and creating a best practice guide for councils to use in relation to these devices, in addition to educating the community about stormwater pollution and how to prevent litter from ending up in street drains.”
“We are very grateful to Georges River Council, Connells Point Public School for all your hard work in helping this project come to fruition.”
The ‘Zero Litter in Georges River’ program provides environmental education, aligned to the NSW curriculum, about stormwater pollution, and encourages students to look for solutions to reduce litter flowing to the Georges River. In December 2022 Connells Point Public School completed the education program with the support of Georges Riverkeeper and Georges River Council.
As part of the project, students created designs for artworks to be painted on local footpaths near stormwater drains. The students stared in campaign videos with the footpath art and QR codes linked to the program information to help to educate their school community.
The street art developed for the campaign features the innovative use of Augmented Reality technology and allowed passers-by to scan a QR code to interact with a virtual long-neck turtle called ‘Zero’, one of the native animals found in the Georges River and is threatened by pollution.
Sponsored by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), the award recognised Georges Riverkeeper’s commitment to preserving the health of the Georges River and is a testament to its catchment-wide approach.
