The annual 4WD QLD K’gari Clean Up is done and dusted for the year, and you won’t believe how much rubbish was collected. Over 6.5 tonnes! Which is exactly 6500 kilograms too much for what many of you know, is one of the most amazing places in Australia.
Run by members of the 4WD QLD Association in collaboration with the QLD Department of Environment Science (DES), QLD Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS) and the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC), this annual event on K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) does not receive government funding and relies solely on sponsors to ensure the event continues every year.
Over 800 volunteers from 4WD QLD’s 45 member clubs attended the annual event to ensure the UNESCO World Heritage-Listed National Park remains a ‘paradise’ as the Butchulla peoples’ traditional name ‘K’gari’, describes it.
What happens to the rubbish?
Once the rubbish has been collected, the Tangaroa Blue Foundation takes on the important job of weighing and sorting it. Why would they do that? Because the information is added to a database (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere) where it is then used by research agencies and the Australian Government to help stop marine waste at its origin and inform environmental policies.
Club 4×4 volunteers even found a tracking beacon
The team from Club 4X4 Insurance, a returning platinum sponsor, collected 45kg of rubbish from the Orchid Beach shoreline, including a GPS tracking beacon that Tangaroa Blue will restore and use to help track future marine waste.
Club 4X4 Insurance CEO Tony Mitchell said: “The K’gari Clean Up is a fantastic initiative and a great immersion experience for our team, highlighting how much the 4X4 community value our pristine spaces. As sponsors of 4WD QLD, we’re honoured to work side-by-side with their members restoring the world’s largest sand Island.”
About Club 4X4 Insurance
The best bits of Australia, including the beautiful lakes on K’gari and its bucket list ‘sand highway‘, can take a bit to get to. But, if you can cross it, climb it, and explore it in your 4WD, caravan or camper trailer, Club 4X4 Insurance has you covered with comprehensive insurance that goes anywhere in Australia you can legally take a 4WD with off-road recovery as standard.