Care for Hedland nominated for multiple awards, calls for residents to earn through cash for trash program

Care for Hedland has received multiple award nominations but the organisation is still fighting an uphill battle to keep Port Hedland clean as its strategic partnership with the Town gains momentum. The environmental organisation was recently named a finalist in the 2023 Waste Sorted Awards which recognises groups that use innovative solutions or demonstrate exceptional performance in reducing community waste. The group was also recently nominated for the Woolworths WA Community Group of the Year award. Care for Hedland chair Jules Prins said the nominations recognised their commitment to providing employment opportunities. “The awards recognise our work, not only the Adopt-A-Spots, pick-ups, and waste education,” she said. “But predominantly the nomination is focused around our containers for change depot and our model of using people power. “It not only helps the environment but gives people employment who may have had issues finding work.” Care for Hedland leads Port Hedland’s bimonthly Keep Australia Beautiful Adopt-A-Spot program. Ms Prins said the program received a lot of community support but littering was still pervasive in town. “We had a BHP group pick up a record of over 73kg of rubbish,” she said. “It sucks that we are picking up that much rubbish because it means people are still littering but it’s fantastic we are getting volunteers to clean up our local environment.” The Town of Port Hedland recently unveiled an expanded grants program that included a $30,000 cash for trash scheme whereby the Town will pay community groups $10 per bag of trash they collect up to a value of $2000. Ms Prins said these types of initiatives go a long way in keeping the town clean. “I think that’s amazing,” she said. “Any way we can incentivise the community to keep the environment clean is a fabulous thing,” she said. “If the Town is willing to support our community by doing a cash for Ttrash scheme then it’s a good thing.” Care for Hedland and the Town of Port Hedland recently announced a strategic partnership which Ms Prins said was still being ironed out. “We are still working through our partnership with the Town at the moment,” she said. Care For Hedland’s five strategic areas are sustainable living, waste management, marine and coastal biodiversity, land management, and governance. The Waste Sorted Awards will be held in Perth on September 13.