Litter Prevention Grants Program: grants available

Georges River Council $35,000

Healthy Hospitals

This project aims to tackle the persistent issue of littering surrounding five hospitals within Georges River Council. By implementing an integrated litter management strategy, the project seeks to reduce littering incidents and foster cleaner environments for the wellbeing of patients, staff members and the community. The initiative involves collaborating with hospital stakeholders to identify litter sources and patterns, strategically installing litter bins and signage, and leveraging established campaigns like "Don't be a Tosser" to raise awareness about litter impacts and expectations. Council cleansing crews will conduct initial clean-ups and ongoing monitoring, with enforcement gradually implemented to deter littering behaviour.

Sydney Airport $40,000

Butt Be Gone Initiative

This project aims to tackle the issue of cigarette butt littering at Sydney Airport, recognising the environmental and health risk posed by this behaviour. The project seeks to develop targeted strategies to discourage smoking, raise awareness of the risks, and install butt bins. The key target audiences include travellers and airport workers, with a focus on reducing butt littering in common areas and promoting healthier behaviours. The project seeks to create a cleaner, safer, and smoke-free environment at Sydney Airport.

Purple Card Project $10,000

Community Clean-Ups at Wallsend Skatepark and Ironbark Creek

This project will deliver two community Clean Ups, one at Wallsend Skatepark and another along a section of Iron Creek. The project will involve the community in clean-up activities to create awareness, establish litter free areas and protect the waterways along the creek.

Fixx Events $5,000

Avoca Beachside Markets Clean Up Event

Avoca Beachside Markets, a longstanding eco-conscious event, will run a community clean-up day. With a focus on minimal waste and environmental impact, the initiative aims to engage over 100 families and patrons in cleaning up the local shoreline and surroundings areas, while enjoying free breakfast and educational incentives.

Georges Riverkeeper $42,280

Georges Riverkeeper Roadmap

For this project Georges Riverkeeper will develop a Roadmap in line with the existing Georges River Litter Prevention Strategy. The Roadmap will analyse the organisation’s current progress, set a vision and targets, create organisational goals, develop an M&E framework, establish future funding requirements, and refine the strategic directions and initiatives to align with the NSW Litter Prevention Strategy. The project will dedicate additional resources to work with member councils to build support and endorsement of the catchment wide strategy. The project will set up Georges Riverkeeper and partnering councils to be better placed to enact litter prevention in the long term and across the catchment.

Maitland City Council $100,000

Litter-Free Futures: A Comprehensive Strategy for Litter Prevention

Maitland City Council's Strategic Litter Prevention Initiative encompasses a multifaceted approach aimed at effectively addressing litter within the organisation and aligning with the objectives outlined in the NSW Litter Prevention Strategy 2022-2030. The initiative integrates key strategic actions, including the development of a comprehensive strategy, the creation of a business case, completion of the Own It and Act Consensus Rubric, and the establishment of a Litter Roadmap. These initiatives are designed to build capacity, set targets, and drive meaningful action towards achieving litter prevention targets.

No More Butts $36,400

Building strategic capability on the prevention of tobacco product waste in NSW

This project will support No More Butts to develop a Strategic Litter Prevention Plan and Roadmap. It will embed litter prevention across the organisation and align actions with the NSW Litter Prevention Strategy, specially supporting the 50 per cent reduction in cigarette butt littering behaviour.

City of Canada Bay $40,000

City of Canada Bay Litter Prevention Roadmap

The City of Canada Bay will facilitate the creation of a detailed Own It and Act Roadmap outlining Council’s strategy for attaining long-term litter prevention goals. The Roadmap will consolidate various data sources into a single, coherent document. It aims to define a clear and collaborative approach, specifying the resources and investments necessary to turn these aspirations into reality.

The Roadmap will be developed with a flexible approach that is receptive to feedback. This approach will allow staff to collaborate and evaluate current approaches to realign targets and actions with Council’s vision as a litter prevention leader.

Cumberland City Council $420,000

Implementation of Cumberland City Council Litter Prevention Strategy and Action Plan 2024-2028

As part of the EPA strategic development grant funding stream Cumberland City Council has developed its first Litter Prevention Strategy and Action Plan 2024-28 and Roadmap. This five-year program endorses the delivery and implementation of the Strategy and Roadmap to realise Council’s vision to keep Cumberland litter free and empower the local community. A set of litter prevention targets and initiatives have been set, encompassing three strategic directions: 1. Welcome – build community pride and establish expectations. 2. Belong – empower our stakeholders to take litter prevention action. 3. Succeed – foster a systemic and integrated approach to litter prevention.

OzFish Unlimited $420,000

Tackling Litter in the Recreational Fishing Community and Industry

OzFish has established a target of reducing recreational fishing litter by 50% by 2029. This project will contribute to achieving this target by increasing engagement of the recreational fishing community and industry in litter prevention activities and behaviours.

This ambitious target will be achieved through a set of strategic initiatives including establishing volunteer Litter Officers in the 22 chapters throughout NSW, providing boat bags and lure retrievers to recreational fishers and using OzFish network of recreational fishing personalities and influencers to normalise litter prevention in recreational fishing.

Shellharbour City Council $420,000

Let's Litter Less - Shellharbour Council

This initiative will assist Shellharbour Council in delivering new long-term approaches to litter prevention through an array of strategic directions and initiatives. Council’s litter prevention five-year Roadmap identified key areas of improvement, including: 1. Integrating data capturing and centralised information on management processes. 2. Developing data-based education and engagement programs. 3. Strengthening collaboration between teams and documenting clear roles and responsibilities. 4. Assessing the need for additional infrastructure for improving litter management in hotspots.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service $425,000

NPWS Litter Prevention Program

National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) has created a litter prevention vision and goals for the next five years outlined in the first NPWS Litter Prevention Strategy and Roadmap. This initiative supports the implementation of holistic programs which create a foundation for an ongoing coordinated approach to litter prevention within NSW National Parks, with the initial primary objective of reducing litter at trial sites by 50%.

The NPWS Strategy and Roadmap provide strategic directions to realise the vision to move on from the current reactive approach, towards coordinated and proactive litter prevention. This new approach for NPWS will focus on improving data and reporting mechanisms to set realistic targets, better understand the extent of the issue and assess the performance of litter prevention initiatives as they are rolled out across the state.

Inner west Council $400,000

Inner West, Litter Less

Inner West Council Litter Prevention Roadmap outlines a coordinated, cross-department approach to improving Council's litter management policies, practices and operations. This long-term initiative will support Council in its understanding of litter, implement monitoring and evaluation processes, and achieve ambitious litter reduction targets. Council will join forces with the community to collectively take responsibility for litter, working together to ensure local public spaces are welcoming, accessible, clean and safe. Inner West Council aims to deliver on four overarching strategic directions including: collaboration across departments, partnership with the community, reporting and tracking of litter, and incorporation of litter prevention into Council plans and processes.

Northern Beaches Council $404,000

Green and Clean Northern Beaches

The Northern Beaches Council Litter Prevention Roadmap provides a strategic framework under which a range of stakeholders collaborate to achieve the “cleanest public places in Sydney”. The Roadmap includes a combination of targeted place-based initiatives, themed approaches to specific groups, and broader engagement with the wider community and visitors. The Roadmap builds on the foundation of past litter prevention initiatives and is fully integrated with Council's newly adopted "Waste and Circular Economy Strategy". Council’s new litter prevention strategies and initiatives will strongly promote behaviour change to embed a litter prevention mindset into the Northern Beaches region.

Byron Shire Council $420,000

Litter and Illegal Dumping Prevention Strategy 2024 – 2029

This program will assist Byron Shire Council to achieve the new litter prevention targets in the Council Litter Prevention Strategy and Roadmap. Over the next five years, Council aims to continue to adopt proven and effective integrated approaches and continue building organisational capacity to ensure that litter prevention is a high priority for Council, while the organisational agenda and investment reflects its importance. Council will continue to collect long-term litter data so that local litter problems and successes are clearly identifiable through evaluating trends. The Roadmap will implement long-term behaviour change initiatives focussing on the most problematic items and issues within the Byron Shire.

Bathurst Regional Council $403,950

Leaving Litter in the Past - Implementing Bathurst’s Litter Strategy

Bathurst Regional Council has recently completed the Own it and Act Rubric as part of the EPA strategic development grant funding stream. This resulted in the establishment of Bathurst’s Litter Prevention Strategy and Litter Prevention Roadmap. Council’s ultimate vision is to maintain a clean, safe and litter-free region that supports its heritage, culture, diversity, and strong economy and protects local natural areas. Bathurst Council is also committed to lead litter management across the region while increasing capacity for strategic partnerships and implementing preventative action.

Randwick City Council​   $20,000
Butt Litter Reduction at Randwick
The project plan will use the EPA's 13 step approach to butt litter reduction at La Perouse and Randwick. The butt litter check has identified significant butt littering at the two hot spots. Council will install appropriate butt bins along with Hey Tosser campaign signs. Interactive education will be undertaken for community awareness. Enforcement rangers will be mobilised for enforcement of butt littering. Butt litter checks will be conducted mid-way through and at the end of the project to achieve a target of 50% reduction in butt litter.

Bathurst Regional Council​   $96,000
Leaving Litter in the Past, A strategic approach to managing litter in Bathurst
​Bathurst Regional Council has commenced identifying its strengths and capacity building opportunities with respect to litter management across the four key OIAA enablers. A Steering Committee will oversee the development of a litter strategy and grow ownership of litter prevention within the organisation. Council has access to project data from litter hotspots and will grow this data though a litter study and investigate different types of litter across multiple locations to assist with future litter priorities. Council has a strong track record of external collaboration as well as sharing outcomes and learning.

Bathurst’s actions can limit litter impacts on Murray Darling Basin to improve water quality across the Central West. Council is committed to both waste and catchment education and has delivered the successful River Connections Project across six schools. The innovative project brings young people and Wiradyuri Elders together to learn about the river from a range of perspectives.

Council anticipates aligning the litter strategy with the objectives contained in the NSW Litter Prevention Strategy 2022 – 2030, the Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy and the NSW Plastics Plan. The final aspect to the project is the completion of the Stream 3 Roadmap in line with EPA guidelines to implement the key recommendations coming out of the strategy.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council​    $50,000
City of Canterbury Bankstown Litter Roadmap
 

The Canterbury Bankstown community has identified litter prevention and clean up as actions to deliver a clean city. Council will build a cross team, multi-focus area, cross catchment, and regional approach to littering. A litter roadmap will incorporate baseline data collected to evaluate progress towards the WASM targets. These activities will be incorporated into Operational Plans for future budgeting and funding opportunities.

The roadmap will engage neighbouring Councils, Regional ROCs, Catchment Groups and State agencies litter strategies/goals. It will pull together litter actions from across the organisation to deliver on a commitment to reduce litter that is deliverable and trackable with long-term goals. Synchronising outcomes with our neighbours and partners in a single document will make it clear to NSW that CB City is committed to WASM Strategy goals.

Seabin Foundation Ltd    $40,000
Seabin Foundation Litter Prevention Framework and target base Litter Reduction Strategy
This project will form Seabin Foundations’ long-term vision to empower litter prevention across community, private sector, and government. By influencing behaviour, policy change, and awareness according to localised facts measured regularly by Seabins, Seabin Foundation intend to reduce litter in Seabin catchment areas by 60%.

The project will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the extent and causes of littering in our community and throughout the study site. It will engage with stakeholders, including local government, businesses, schools, and community organisations to develop a comprehensive prevention and evaluation framework. An action plan will outline the specific steps to be taken to implement the framework, including timelines, responsibilities, and resources to identify the outcomes to be measured.

The Canterbury Bankstown community has identified litter prevention and clean up as actions to deliver a clean city. Council will build a cross team, multi-focus area, cross catchment, and regional approach to littering. A litter roadmap will incorporate baseline data collected to evaluate progress towards the WASM targets. These activities will be incorporated into Operational Plans for future budgeting and funding opportunities.

Inner West Council​   $100,000
Inner West, Litter Less – Developing a long-term litter prevention roadmap
The focus of this project is to increase Inner West Council’s capacity to undertake litter prevention initiatives, projects, and community engagement, permanently embedding litter prevention into the organisation and working towards Council’s litter reduction targets. Council currently endorses two regional litter prevention strategic development plans and has identified through the Own it and Act Status Check that it is ready to develop its own strategic goals. The project will produce a roadmap outlining long-term plans to incorporate litter prevention into all areas that manage litter. This long-term commitment will decrease dependency on short-term projects and grant funding. The cross-departmental steering group will remove common barriers such as communication breakdown or competing priorities/ projects and help all departments to work towards a common goal.

The Strategy will analyse preliminary data gathered from the study site and adapt for other relevant water catchment areas, interpret feedback given in steering committee, apply OIAA Framework assessment to the strategy, and action plan, to assess its alignment with the Own it and Act strategic implementation criteria and ensure the strategy can lead to the development of a 3-year roadmap to be implemented for Sydney Harbour and other areas in NSW.

Clean Up Australia Limited​    $61,000
Understanding the journey from clean up volunteers to prevention
Clean Up Australia believes that litter prevention needs to be embedded at every level of the organisation and wants to embrace a more holistic approach towards litter prevention. To facilitate this change, CUA will develop a business case that maps out CUA’s vision for litter prevention, sets clear and tangible targets and impact tracking, and establishes how CUA can engage stakeholders to develop further actions beyond Clean Ups.

The roadmap will provide a framework for Clean Up Australia's future campaigns to align with the NSW Litter Prevention Strategy. The project will be informed by surveys, focus groups, and interviews with Clean Up Australia's volunteers and supporters. It will also draw on best practices from other successful environmental organisations in driving behaviour change. The roadmap will provide Clean Up Australia with a strategic tool to mobilise its network of volunteers and supporters towards prevention, championing actions, and leading their local communities to more a sustainable future.

Cumberland City Council​   $80,000
 Strategic approach to litter prevention in Cumberland
Cumberland City Council aims to take an integrated and systematic approach to delivering litter prevention. Council will develop a Litter Prevention and Action plan to deliver key outcomes in line with the Own it and Act Framework. This strategy will develop a clear vision for litter prevention in Cumberland and streamline long-term litter prevention actions in Cumberland.

The deliverables from the grant include a Litter Prevention Strategy and Action Plan, Roadmap, Own It and Act consensus rubric, baseline of current organisational litter prevention capacity, and community engagement and communication actions. A steering committee made up of specialist across multiple disciplines within Council will meet regularly to guide the direction of the project.

Shellharbour City Council​   $100,000
Shellharbour City Council litter reduction roadmap
Shellharbour City Council is committed to developing a Litter Reduction Roadmap to identify actions and goals to make Shellharbour City a clean and litter-free environment. Using a collaborative, cross-organisational approach Council will embed litter prevention practices throughout the organisation. The Litter Prevention Roadmap will enable Council to identify goals and actions to continue to embed litter prevention practices and build capacity within the organisation. Council has committed to establishing a Steering Committee and Working Group to ensure cross-divisional endorsement and input from the relevant stakeholders.

The Roadmap will build organisational capacity for litter prevention, establish litter prevention targets that align with Council’s capacity and EPA targets, identify the key sources of litter and how they enter our waterways, review existing infrastructure and catchment technologies to identify potential improvements, quantify the amount of litter and time allocated to litter management and improve monitoring and evaluation and data collection to ensure Council meets agreed litter prevention targets.

Take 3 for the Sea​   $449,978
Take 3’s Visitor Economy Industry Litter Prevention Program
​The purpose of Take 3’s Visitor Economy Industry Litter Prevention Program (‘VEI Program’) is to bring together leading NSW Visitor Economy Industry businesses and stakeholders (‘VEI businesses/stakeholders’), utilising a sector approach to inform and enable them to Own it and Act on the problem of visitor litter. Key outcomes are to build ownership and capacity for the NSW Visitor Economy Industry (VEI) and their consumers/visitors to act on and sustain litter prevention now and into the future through leading, educating, monitoring, amplifying, advocating, and celebrating litter prevention across the industry.

After the success of First Wave (Phase 1) and Ground Swell (Phase 2) of the VEI Program, the strategic intent of Phase 3 is to continue to inspire the ownership of visitor litter and to challenge the VEI to work together to achieve the NSW Litter Reduction Targets in line with the NSW Visitor Economy Litter Prevention Strategy 2030.