Tasmanian Awards for
Environmental Excellence 2000

Readers of the TCT newsletter will know of Jo Carswell's great work on the Great Car Body Cleanup Project. Her efforts have been officially recognised by the Tasmanian Government.

As part of the Tasmanian Awards for Environmental Excellence, JO has been awarded the Minister's Sustainable Development Award for 2000. Anyone who has seen JO hard at work in the TCT office on this project will agree that it is well deserved. Below, Peter Whitbread has provided an outline of this important project.

The Great Car Body Clean Up Project

Introduction
The Great Car Body Clean Up Project has been functioning for four years and has succeeded in achieving results that have made changes to the environment for a better future use. The results are outstanding.

Since 1996 the project has removed dumped and abandoned cars from bushland and urban areas. The great need for such a project has been recognised by our past and present Tasmanian government, by Local governments and many established bodies such as the Department of Land and Environment, Parks and Wildlife, Tasmanian Fire Services. Many individuals and landcare groups and volunteers have also contributed their time and effort.

The dumping of cars is not a new issue. The wrecks destroy the attraction of the environment for tourists, bushwalkers, visitors and sight seekers wishing to enjoy it. This problem is also present in waterways, causing dangers to swimmers, boats and fishermen. Their obvious size and abandonment does not underpin a clean environmental attitude and as a consequence their presence generates adverse comments on the standard of care for the environment. Hardly the memory anyone can treasure.

Apart from the aesthetics they also cause serious obstructions to fire service personnel when they need to reach a location in the event of a fire. They also attract attention from potential arsonists.

Perhaps the worst feature of dumped cars is that the initial dumping encourages others to do the same, even attracting other litter such as household and industrial waste. This constitutes a direct hazard to visitors and wildlife from the rusting bits of jagged metal and hundreds of pieces of broken glass. Environmental conditions are jeopardised from toxins in paint, fuel, oil and other chemicals often found with dumped cars. Such bushland areas are also at risk of destruction from the haphazard formation of vehicle tracks which cause erosion and soil compaction, hence increasing the destruction of native plants and thus the dependent wildlife. The issue of car dumping can therefore be seen as causing horrible effects to our environment.

Project Successes
Wonderful successes have been achieved. Worthy of note include areas such as Rokeby, Flagstaff Gully and Huntingfield-Coffee Creek. Each area borders an urban fringe and have therefore attracted the clandestine activity of car dumping. A total of 163 dumped wrecks were removed from these areas and since their removal these areas have achieved an accomplished measure of sustainability which prevents further dumping of wrecks. The most commendable achievement of these is the Huntingfield-Coffee Creek area located near Margate, south of Hobart Tasmania. Over sixty dumped cars were removed. The result ? This area was renamed after the cars were removed and is now called the "Peter Murrell Conservation Area". This nature reserve contains heath and rare plants and is managed by the Huntingfield-Coffee Creek Landcare Group and Parks and Wildlife Services.

The projects aims and achievements have been widely broadcast through several media avenues including Clean Up Australia, WIN TV , The Mercury and other newspapers. The interest has also captured attention through the national magazine Community Link and through the Tasmanian Conservation Trust's newsletter The Tasmanian Conservationist.

As well as these means several other ways to educate the public have received favourable comments and support. For example two large library displays providing informative material have helped library visitors to become familiar with the problems of dumping cars. A book written by the co-ordinator of Clean Up Australia for Hobart, Jo Carswell called "Jack and the Beans Talk" provided light hearted comments on environmental concerns and its funds were used towards the purchase of a winch for the project. "Eric" the fire engine competition allowed young ones to grasp the issue of how dumping cars is not friendly toward the environment. Young children from the Lenah Valley Primary School have been involved in the project through their determination to remove unsightly cars opposite their school. These wrecks breached the banks of the Newtown Rivulet which is managed by the Newtown Rivulet Catchment Landcare Group. Thus in many ways the project has educated the public and involved a wide cross-section of the community.

On a social standing the project has given strong support to the community through it's objective towards a cleaner and more socially acceptable environment. The project stirred and bonded closer links between the Government and the community. Since the project's aim is to remove car bodies littering our environment the following groups and organisations have co-operated together towards that aim, Clean Up Australia 2001, The Tasmanian Conservation Trust Inc, Tasmania Fire Services, Department of Environment and Land Management, several Tasmanian Local Councils, many landcare groups and interested volunteers, Tasmanian Police through their Bushcare program and Simsmetal who recycle all the wrecks.

The above bodies work together by providing information directing project workers to the location of dumped cars and provide labour, vehicles, trailers, skip bins, fuel, equipment and transport. By all these means the dumped vehicles are sent for recycling by Simsmetal who have co-operated with the project from it's inception.

The project has not occurred without cost. The costs incurred have come from labour, transport, fuel and administration expenses. To progress the project needs funds that would be used towards these expenses and towards the purchase of replacement equipment. Included as part of the project's forward progress is acknowledgement of sponsorship and further education of the need to remove the environmental hazard of dumped wrecks.