Keep Australia Beautiful Tasmania (KABTas) is a long-standing, community-driven not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the unique natural beauty, character, and liveability of our island state. As the Tasmanian arm of the national Keep Australia Beautiful network, we champion grassroots action, behavioural change, and local leadership to build cleaner, safer, and more sustainable communities.

We work hand-in-hand with towns, councils, schools, volunteers, and passionate individuals to reduce litter, improve waste practices, nurture local pride, and empower people to care for the places they live. Our purpose is simple: to support Tasmanians in protecting the environment we all share, while strengthening the social and cultural fabric of our communities.

Our flagship initiative, the Sustainable Communities – Tidy Towns Awards, shines a light on communities leading the way in litter reduction, waste innovation, resource recovery, environmental stewardship, and community spirit. We also nurture the next generation of environmental leaders through our Sustainable Schools Program, providing resources, guidance, and recognition to help schools turn their sustainability ideas into real-world impact.

Together, we’re creating a cleaner, more resilient, and more connected Tasmania, one community, one school, and one small action at a time.

Keep Australia Beautiful Tasmania (KABTAS) has been running since 1978, and is a member of Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) National.

KAB runs strong anti-litter campaigns, and educates all Australians about environmental issues including waste minimisation, energy conservation, water quality, recycling, coastal care, and roadside management – including revegetation. KAB’s major sustainable communities programs include:

The Tidy Towns, and Sustainable Cities programs which see more than 20,000 people statewide unite to protect and improve their local environment. The Schools Environment Awards, recognising the top environmental school in Tasmania with the opportunity for all secondary and special schools to enter each year. They are judged on the environmental programs they implement in the classroom, the school yard, and the wider community.

‍Through its National programs KAB Tasmania builds on the success of the grassroots activities of each State and Territory Councils. In addition to providing the backbone for the national programs, KAB Councils’ local programs cover issues including revegetation, the conservation of biodiversity, water quality management, and coastal care.

KAB NATIONAL PROGRAMS:

1. Paint Australia Beautiful

2. Keep Australia Beautiful Week

3. Do The Right Thing Campaign

4. National Tidy Towns Sustainability Awards

5. Local Government Litter Audit

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

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

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.

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:

Litter Prevention | Biodiversity Conservation | Plastic Free Communities | Behaviour Change & Engagement | Circular Economy & Waste Reduction | Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation | Water Conservation & Protection | Liveable Communities | Heritage & Culture | Dame Phyllis Frost Local Hero | Young Legends

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

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