KEEP AUSTRALIA BEAUTIFUL WEEK (KAB WEEK)

A National Focus Week for Behaviour Change

Held every August since 1972, KAB Week is a national moment to inspire action on waste, litter and biodiversity. KAB Week transforms awareness into measurable community action.

Key Components

• Annual theme focusing on litter, plastics, biodiversity or waste reduction
• Community events: clean-ups, planting days, school programs, business initiatives
• Blogs, resources, social campaigns and media outreach
• Alignment with Landcare Week to promote restoration and habitat protection
• Partnerships with platforms such as Snap Send Solve for reporting litter and dumping

DO THE RIGHT THING

KAB’s Motto, Message & Movement

“Do The Right Thing” is Australia’s most iconic anti-litter message, first launched in the 1980s and still recognised nationwide. Today, it is the central behavioural change brand for all national litter-prevention efforts.

Program Features

• National brand used across KAB campaigns, collateral, schools, events and social media
• Forms the backbone of Keep Australia Beautiful Week
• Embedded in business partnerships encouraging organisations to reduce their plastic footprint
• Reinforced through modern campaigns including A Little Taste of Plastic, 2025

Decades later, the message remains the same: we all have a responsibility to keep Australia beautiful and clean.

NATIONAL TIDY TOWNS SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS

Australia’s Longest-Running Community Sustainability Program

Beginning in 1968 in Western Australia, Tidy Towns has grown into a nationwide program celebrating community-driven leadership in sustainability.

Today the Tidy Towns program decentralises environmental action, empowering communities to lead change locally – building pride, celebrating achievement, and inspiring communities to do better every year.

Each State runs its own Tidy Towns Awards, and then State Winners advance to the National Awards, for judging, and a National Winner is announced

National Award Categories Include:

PAINT AUSTRALIA BEAUTIFUL – NATIONAL SCHOOL MURAL COMPETITION

Environmental Education Through Creativity

Paint Australia Beautiful engages primary school students in a national mural competition encouraging them to explore themes such as waste reduction, biodiversity, and caring for Country. Every mural becomes a long-lasting symbol of student leadership and environmental pride.

Program Elements

• Runs from February – November annually
• Children design sustainability themes murals on A3 or A4
• Schools either submit mural designs as individual artworks, or as a merged class / year level mural submission.
• State-level judging selects a shortlist from the submitted murals, and the public vote on these to determine finalists
• The State Finalists receive paint and supplies to bring their murals to life on a wall within their school.
• Final voting for the National People’s Choice Award takes place on social media, and an overall winner is crowned

CONTAIN YOUR WASTE – NATIONAL WASTE REDUCTION CHALLENGE

Gamifying Waste Reduction in Households, Schools & Workplaces

Born from a KAB Week theme and now a standalone national behaviour change program, Contain Your Waste challenges Australians to reduce their weekly waste to the size of a single container.

The challenge turns waste reduction into an achievable, and often competitive, everyday habit.

How It Works

• Participants choose a container (jar, tub, bucket)
• All week, they aim to fit their landfill waste inside it
• Encourages source reduction, reuse, and avoiding single-use plastics
• Promotes creative reuse of soft plastics, repurposing, and responsible disposal

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LITTER AUDIT (LGLA)

National Litter Monitoring & Insights for Councils

The Local Government Litter Audit is KAB’s national standard for litter assessment, providing councils with the comprehensive litter data they need to make informed decisions.

These audits are supported and managed within each State KAB organisation.

Services Include

• Litter hotspot audits
• Brand and material analysis
• Waste behaviour insights
• Tailored local litter management reporting
• Training and upskilling for council staff