GROUND SWELL

Litter Prevention Program for the Visitor Economy

The Problem of Visitor Litter

Communities thrive on the economic success tourism brings, but unfortunately, the more visitors – the more likely there is to be more litter and the greater the negative impact to wildlife, the environment and ultimately the community.

The Solution

Now in its fourth year, Ground Swell, is a free Take 3 for the Sea Program created to inform and empower NSW communities dependent on tourism to collaborate in reducing and reversing the litter impact in our beautiful holiday locations everywhere – coastal, regional, rural and remote and dovetails perfectly with Ecotourism Australia’s Eco-Destination credentials and re-accreditation.

Here is a snapshot of what’s involved:

The Ground Swell ‘Litter Lab’ workshop

The workshop guides participants beyond litter clean ups, providing a valuable, deeper layer of education and action for those relying on tourists and visitors in any delicate natural ecosystem.

Anchored by the Program’s 6 key factors for litter prevention and Litter Reduction Toolkit for NSW Tourism Operators, the workshop provides a platform and framework for action. 

Common (and not so common) litter challenges, solutions and actions are openly shared, leading to stronger understanding and commitment by all to tackle issues in a positive and collaborative way. As a result, Ground Swell participation provides an opportunity for participants to reduce their cost of litter and associated resources and increase positive engagement with their community.

The workshop educates participants about the identifiable underlying causes of littering, provides tried and true solutions and coaches participants to develop a tailor-made action plan, enabling their businesses to:

Identify, understand and measure existing litter hotspots specific to their business and their area.

Blend litter reduction solutions and source reduction (especially plastic) best practice into their core values.

Introduce litter prevention into their customer-facing narrative through positive involvement and storytelling, informing and empowering their teams, visitors and community at large.

Monitor positive impacts and share successes.

Take confident leadership within their community and reap the rewards of enduring success in maintaining a litter-free environment.

Celebrate Best Practice and Success

All participants are encouraged to enter the Take 3 for the Sea Litter Prevention Award category of the NSW Tourism Awards. A highpoint of the tourism year, the Award communicates to the NSW tourism industry the importance of Best Practice collaborative litter prevention in our tourism communities, and the positive impact that can be made together.

“As tourism operators we have a responsibility. We need to protect the future sustainability of the environment and of our businesses.’

Jacquie Walshe, The Walshe Group.

Context:

This project is a NSW Environment Protection Authority Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy initiative, funded from the waste levy. The goal is to inspire ownership of visitor litter and to challenge tourism-related communities to work together to achieve the NSW Litter Reduction Targets in line with the NSW Visitor Economy Litter Prevention Strategy 2030, the NSW Waste & Sustainable Materials Strategy and NSW Plastics Action Plan. (A 60% reduction in total litter by 2030, a 30% reduction in plastic litter by 2025 in visitor hotspots and to phase out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025.)

The program speaks to the following UN SDGs