By Mikayla van Loon
Seeing an ever growing rubbish problem around Lilydale, Grant Bannister decided to do something about it.
Although, he didn’t think he could do it alone and so he put the call out to his Bukido Karate family to spread the word about a rubbish clean up competition.
“I do quite a bit of walking, not just around the lake but other streets as well and I’m so sick of seeing all the bits of plastic, we do pick up a lot ourselves and there’s some amazing groups of people who walk around and pick up rubbish,” he said.
“I thought well this is going to be a good idea, I’ll do this but I have to make it worthwhile for people to do it so that’s why we settled on the $500.”
Anyone from the Yarra Ranges can enter by submitting a minute long video of themselves picking up rubbish and disposing of it in the correct manner.
The videos need to be shared on Facebook using the hashtag #bukidocleaninguptheyarraranges and entrants also need to fill out a form by going to the Bukido Karate website’s competition tab.
Mr Bannister said the competition will run until December and Yarra Ranges Councillor Tim Heenan is on board to draw the winner.
“He said he’d do the final judging for us. If we get quite a few, we’ll get it down to about five or 10 that he can look at and he can make the final judgement.”
While 75 per cent of the students at Bukido Karate are children, Mr Bannister said he hopes people of all ages get involved, particularly people outside the karate circle.
Part of Japanese martial arts culture requires students to ensure the dojo or the space they practice karate is clean before starting class.
“One of our things with the kids is not just karate, we teach respect and we also teach how to look after things,” Mr Bannister said.
The competition is an extension of that teaching and Mr Bannister said taking rubbish home or picking up rubbish is a small but important step to ensure the environment and creeks remain healthy.
“One thing that really worries me is the amount of plastic going into our seas. Now, that all comes from us and if all the shires got together, we could stop a lot of the plastic going down the Yarra which would be fantastic.
“I went walking yesterday and I could see bits of junk floating down [Olinda] Creek. And I thought it’s just little bits people throw [in the creek], even if it’s a little bit just take it home, it’s not a hard thing to do.”
