Gloves pulled on and holding empty rubbish bags was how a group of youths spent their Monday afternoon, all for a new campaign aimed at cleaning up the Peel region.
Called ‘Heal Peel’, the campaign has been created by members of the Youth on Leadership Program.
The program is run through non-for-profit charity The Makers and draws together people aged 13-17 who are passionate about making positive changes in Mandurah.
Each year, youths in the program select an issue they would like to see improved in the region and create a campaign to combat the concern.
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This year, the group focused on the environmental issues in the region and in particular the negative effect single-use plastic bags were causing.
For the past six months, the group have been working alongside the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council and Mandurah Cruises to create the Heal Peel campaign.
Campaign coordinator Emma Lyons said the topic of single-use plastics was one that stood out to the leadership team.
She said group members believed it was an underrated issue that needed to be addressed and wasn’t talked about enough by younger people.
“The environment is such a large topic to discuss so we narrowed it down to something that teenagers use everyday,” she said.
“Single-use plastics just came about. It was a common theme through all our discussions.”
The group have held awareness and education workshops on ideas to combat the issue, such as creating shopping bags out of old shirts.
The campaign will run until Mandurah’s Stretch Festival, where the group will hold an informative stall with interactive games for the public.
After the festival, the group will eventuate how successful their efforts were.
The group have fortnightly meetings and encourage anyone interested to come along to their sessions.
For more information on the group or to join in visit their Facebook Page or website.
