Volunteers from Maroochydore-based Club 4X4 Insurance collected rubbish and debris from K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) over the weekend as part of National Volunteer week and as a sponsor of the annual Four Wheel Drive Queensland (4WD QLD) K’gari Clean Up event.

Run by members of the 4WD QLD Association in collaboration with Queensland Department of Environment Science (DES), Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS) and Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC), volunteers collected more than 6.5T of marine debris over three days.

Clean up contributing to Research

The debris is weighed and sorted by Tangaroa Blue Foundation and added to their database, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. The information is then used by the Australian Government and research agencies to help stop marine waste at its origin and inform environmental policies.

The team from Club 4X4 Insurance, a returning platinum sponsor, collected 45kg of rubbish from the Orchid Beach shoreline, including a GPS tracking beacon that Tangaroa Blue will restore and use to help track future marine waste.

Proud partners

Club 4X4 Insurance CEO Tony Mitchell said: “The K’gari Clean Up is a fantastic initiative and a great immersion experience for our team, highlighting how much the 4X4 community value our pristine spaces. As sponsors of 4WD QLD, we’re honoured to work side-by-side with their members restoring the world’s largest sand Island.”

The 4WD QLD K’gari Clean Up does not receive government funding and relies solely on sponsors to ensure the event continues. More than 800 volunteers from 4WD QLD’s 45 member clubs attend the annual event to ensure the UNESCO World Heritage-listed national park remains a ‘paradise’ as the Butchulla peoples’ traditional name ‘Kgari’ describes.

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