SOPHIE FOSTER
Monday, November 17, 2008

THIS week marks the final countdown to what is expected to be the biggest drive this country has even seen to clean up the environment.

This as organisers prepare for this Saturday's Clean Up Fiji Day event.

Thousands of people are expected to converge on litter throughout the country as part of a nation-wide campaign.

And organisers say energising youth support is the main reason why a crump dance group has been enrolled as public face of this year's campaign.

The campaign, which is being run through all forms of media with the support of The Fiji Times, Communications Fiji Limited, Fiji Television and InfoTech Consultants, is now on its final week to Clean Up Fiji Day.

"This year we are targeting youth with TV, radio and print messages featuring the crump dancing group The Convicts and an original jingle. We are also encouraging tree planting groups as well as clean up teams," according to a statement on the campaign's new website.

"Putting information online will give the clean up program a presence that lasts more than one day, with educational packs for schools helping to make cleaning up a part of everyday life".

In 2006, the Clean Up Fiji Day campaign saw 25,000 people register prior to the event, with 41,000 participating on the day. "There were 600 teams, and 10,000 sacks and 15,000 pairs of gloves were given to help teams clean up".

This year major sponsors FMF are expected to provide substantially more sacks and for the first time will also provide hessian sacks which will be reused after the company empties potatoes that it imports for its chips snack.

Other organisations in the list of sponsors supporting the growth of Clean Up Fiji include FBCL, British American Tobacco, Mix FM, TFL, Infotech Consultants, Westpac, McDonalds, Australian High Commission and Post Fiji.

Clean Up Fiji has been going since 1996 when 1996 it kicked off with a funky logo, a $500 dollar TV ad, a radio challenge, and instructions in the newspaper. Six thousand people marked the start of Clean Up Fiji at Suva's waterfront from Lami Beach to Suva Point.

Organisers had hoped for 500 people so they were overwhelmed with the support offered. This spurred greater energy for the next event in 1997, when the campaign went national.

"Twenty-three thousand people turned out. One hundred and fifty thousand cubic feet of rubbish was collected, including 40 tonnes from Wailoaloa Beach in Nadi," according to the campaign.

"Seventy percent of participants were children, and there was phenomenal turnout from some rural areas notably Taveuni and Levuka. Local organisers called talkback radio in tears, saying they had never witnessed such community spirit".

The first Clean up Fiji Schools Day then kicked off in 1998, attracting 50,000 school children and the support of the Ministry of Education. Of all the schools in the country, 25 per cent participated.

By 2003, the event was seeing an emerging trend.

"By this time, new leadership was emerging youth groups, church groups, neighbourhood and community groups drove registrations. Many enduring clean up groups were formed that meet regularly to clean up their own environments," according to the website. Then in 2005, registrations reached 15,000 before the event, with more than 30,000 taking part on the day.

"Six thousand sacks and 12,000 pairs of gloves were distributed to the more than 500 teams. Villages, business, government, youth, church and sporting groups all came out in force behind the campaign".

* Register your team for Clean Up Fiji Day by going to www.cleanupfiji.org. You can also call Tebbutt Research for more information.

Article reproduced courtesy of Fiji Times Online - http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=106438