The first campaign of its kind, Victoria’s Coast Too Lovely to Litter focuses on the most visible types of litter including takeaway containers and wrappers, beverage containers, cigarette butts and other types of packaging.

Spanning almost the entire 2000km stretch of Victoria’s beautiful coastline, the campaign aims to reduce litter by at least 30 percent between December and April.

The Victoria’s Coast Too Lovely to Litter campaign is primarily funded by EPA Victoria and the Australian Packaging Covenant with funding from five regional waste management groups. In addition, funding has come from 20 councils situated along the coast from the South Australian to the New South Wales borders.

The campaign message will be delivered via signage carrying the Victoria’s Coast to Lovely to Litter campaign message along with a call to action to Do the right thing, use the right bin and report litterers using EPA Victoria’s Litter Report Line Website – www.epa.vic.gov.au/litter/

Businesses and traders in coastal towns and cities are encouraged to support the campaign. To get on board, contact your local Regional Waste Management Group.

Background

In March 2010, Barwon Regional Waste Management Group launched a pilot project titled Too Lovely to Litter.

This regional litter prevention campaign was a behaviour change program implemented through a partnership with the City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast Shire, Colac Otway Shire, Borough of Queenscliff, Parks Victoria, Vic Roads, Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, Packaging Stewardship Forum, Victorian Litter Action Alliance and the EPA.

The approach taken in this campaign was to work with traders to communicate litter prevention messages to customers at the point of purchasing the items that are later littered on our roadsides and in our public spaces. This approach was trialled and evaluated by the Victorian Litter Action Alliance in 2009 and has formed the basis for the States Roadside Litter Prevention Kit.

The campaign was supported by roadside and public space signage and media promotions.

Following the success of the pilot, funding was granted through the State Government to roll-out a state-wide litter campaign along Victoria’s coastline.

With further funding support from 17 councils, the Victoria’s Coast Too Lovely to Litter campaign was launched in December 2010.