Keep Australia Beautiful has launched its 2011 search for Queensland’s 'tidiest town. Keep Australia Beautiful Queensland’s CEO, Rick Burnett, said this year would be a great challenge for many townships and communities, and regular entrants of the annual “Tidy Towns” competition.

“We know many communities are suffering and we hope the “Tidy Towns” spirit and sense of pride will shine through and help speed up the recovery process,” Mr Burnett said.

“In damage stricken areas, we will be rewarding the efforts in recovery – the large and small steps achieved by townsfolk working together to clean up and rebuild."

Keep Australia Beautiful Queensland and the Tidy Towns competition will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2011.

“We’ve all come a long way since 1971, when the first anti-litter campaigns were introduced in Queensland.  Now the Tidy Towns are competing in not just litter prevention, but also in categories like energy and water conservation, young legends, outstanding achievements, and the bush spirit award for overcoming hardship," Mr Burnett said.

“Tidy Towns are part of the Aussie way – help out your neighbours, be part of the community and keep the environment clean and tidy. You don’t rubbish your home, so don’t rubbish your town or community.

Mr Burnett said there is still a lot of work to be done in educating people to dispose of their rubbish thoughtfully.

“Litter is still a major problem from cigarette butts to fast food packaging and beverage containers. We need to stop this laziness in our communities.”

He said the Keep Australia Beautiful “National Litter Index” in 2010 had found that half of all litter items were cigarette butts, a problem Port Douglas is certainly not immune to.

“An estimated 7 billion cigarette butts are dropped on the ground in Australia every year,” Burnett said. “We need to stop that and we are asking all our Tidy Town entrants to lead the fight, by becoming ‘BUTT-FREE ZONES’.

“We are asking all smokers to take responsibility for this problem, and use an ash-tray or butt-bin.”

Towns will compete in 11 categories of awards in 2011

The Friendliest Town Award
Australia Post Bush Spirit Award
RACQ Litter Prevention Award
Resource Recovery  Award
Partnerships Award
Energy Conservation Champions Award sponsored by Ergon Energy
Environmental Protection Award
Queensland’s Young Legends Award
Heritage Award sponsored by Paradise & Bishopp Outdoor Advertising
Grundfos Pumps Water Conservation Award
MINT Individual Outstanding Accomplishment Award

For more information and to enter Keep Australia Beautiful, and to enter the Tidy Towns competition log on to the Keep Australia Beautiful Queensland website .